There was a lot of drama in the Senate Judiciary Committee today but ultimately they moved on a straight 11-10 party-line vote to approve Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and send it to the full Senate floor. The vote was scheduled for 1:30pm but was delayed while Sen. Jeff Flake, a retiring Republican from Arizona, negotiated with other senators in the hallway outside the committee room.
In the end, he cast his deciding vote with the Republicans but he strongly suggested that he would not approve a motion to take up the vote on the Senate floor unless the FBI is given “no more than” a week to look into the allegations of sexual assault made on Thursday before the Judiciary Committee by Dr. Ford. For those unfamiliar with Senate procedure, this is causing a lot of confusion, and it’s not entirely clear what will happen even to many of the senators and their staffs.
The main thing you need to know is that the Republicans will need to pass a motion to begin debate on the nomination and then they’ll need to pass another motion to end debate and have a vote. They cannot do any of those things without at least fifty votes, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkoswski of Alaska has stated that she supports Sen. Flake’s proposal for a week-long FBI investigation. The two of them can stop any further action on the nomination unless their demands are met, so the Republican leadership and White House has no real choice but to do something that will satisfy them.
The next steps could be tricky, however, because it’s not clear what will satisfy them or what is really realistic to expect on such a short timeline. The FBI has many field offices and can conduct interviews fairly quickly if people can be located and are available, but this is a real time crunch.
While the FBI investigation gets up and rolling, obviously the news media will be reporting and interviewing and investigating themselves, so there’s no telling what the set of facts and allegations will be dominating in a week’s time, or even when the clock officially starts on that deadline.
In any case, Sen. Flake seems to have put the brakes on what was a runaway train, and I guess we should thank him for that. Democratic Senator Chris Coons seems to have had a major leadership role in making this delay happen, and he deserves praise for his hard work and effectiveness.
I imagine Brett Kavanaugh is heliotrope with rage, and we now know what that looks like. I doubt the shock of his testimony will age well, but it’s not clear that we’ll have much more clarity in a week than we have now.
In any case, there is still hope that Kavanaugh will not be confirmed and serve for perhaps forty years on the nation’s highest court, and it looked for a long time on Friday afternoon like all hope was lost.
A week is no where near enough time to do an investigation and then write a report. And everyone knows it. So they,
Know it and will use constant delays to give it time, killing the nomination by 1000 cuts
Or
They know it and will have a vote in a week, claiming they gave enough time.
As for Kavanaugh…..he’s an alcoholic, either current or recovering. IMHO he is a current alcoholic, to my eyes it’s written on his face. Plus his behavior yesterday practically screams `drunk needs a drink’. And his constant lies are also a tell. Drunks lie, it’s what they do. They lie about everything, minor and major. Sound familiar? If he’s recovering, all he has to say is `ya, I drank, but then in the early nineties I quit’, but he can never say that, because 100 will leap forward saying they saw him drink last year.
Possible scenario;
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, knows in their hearts this guy is unfit. It’s why Trump picked him…Trump poisons everything, so now he wants to poison the SC. So how to extricate themselves from confirming and incredibly unfit rapey frat boy shithead, and then confirm someone who will vote the exact same way as the shithead without being such an obvious worthless human being? Get someone to fall on their sword, and demand an investigation, for a short time frame…that will never end. Flake is perfect for the role.
.
The Anita Hill investigation only took 3 days. This fuckmook (ht/David Simon) told so many demonstrable lies that the feds could easily follow-up. I don’t want to say he’s toast because republicans and all, but I bet DJT has another wingnut waiting in the wings.
I don’t know how long it takes to get another jerk through this process but I do agree they all know this guy is unfit. So one would think Fat Donnie would invite him to withdraw while they still have some time to try again. This fella does really remind me of a raging drunk, but then so too does Graham and Fat Donnie.
It’s pretty obvious that Kavanaugh’s future pretty much depends on what the FBI can or cannot find in its very constrained “investigation.” As I was taking in what the talking heads on MSNBC and CNN had to say about that, there was an almost passing mention of Rosenstein’s pending meeting with Trump. Out of the blue it dawned on me that Rosenstein’s future may also depend on what the FBI does or does not find about Kavanaugh in the next week or so. Hmmm.
No Rosenstein’s fate has little to do with Kavanaugh. Trump is just waiting until after the election to get “get them out!” as he promised in his speech. That was a blabber-mouthed telegraphing of his intent to “clean house” at the Justice Department.
Rosenstein is toast whatever happens to Kavanaugh. But, Trump listens to Lou Dobbs and he tells him on air every day that “It’s a trap!” — Admiral Akbar.
Maybe there’s more here than meets the eye. Eg
https:/www.cbsnews.com/live-news/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-hearing-supreme-court-today-2018-09-0
4-live-updates
Rosenstein & Kavanaugh are reported to be friends.
Many old-guard Republicans worked with and were well acquainted with Brett K because of his long history. Many never Trumpers were in favor of his nomination. Eg our current ally but long time neocon Bill Kristol: https://twitter.com/billkristol/status/1016779998223589376
So what?
I guess every victory is worth something in and of itself, but lord love a duck, the next nominee won’t be any better from a substantive point of view.
And our valorous DINO’s will be willing, able and very glad to fast track the next one.
Talk about hollow victories.
Seriously STFU.
That video of Flake on the elevator, confronted by those women, so brought the issue home, I thought he might back down in some way. He’s not running for reelection but I’m sure he’d like to have the potential for a political future if Trump is ever discredited. A fuck you to those women has the potential to obliterate any possibility of a comeback even if the guy wants to run for Maricopa County dogcatcher. Plus it makes all the Republicans look even more vile than they’ve already made themselves look.
Supposedly Flake is either going to primary Trump or run in 2024. I don’t see it. How would he run as the GOPer trying to return some semblance of normalcy when he voted for everything Trump signed?
One scenario: Flake and Murkowski are looking for an off ramp–some viable way to have this nomination withdrawn if the FBI can find anything noteworthy. That way they don’t have to be forced to vote. Wasn’t it Murkowski who insisted she wouldn’t be willing to vote on the nomination until and unless Dr. Ford was allowed to testify?
Seth Abramson made an interesting speculation. Can the FBI also investigate allegations of perjury during that week? Evidence of perjury abounds.
Great question. One would hope they would at least investigate and report whether the things he said are true. Should be easy enough to research whether he was a choir boy studying quietly in the library except on those few occasions when he had a beer or two vs. an arrogant frat boy who routinely got smashed and behaved like a boorish predator. I’d imagine there are tons of witnesses who aren’t going to want to lie to the FBI. Let’s hope for the best.
I guess I agree they’d prefer this to go away, but I’d still bet it won’t and they’ll have to vote, and will vote to confirm.
If it comes to a vote, they will vote to confirm, there is no doubt. Getting the nomination withdrawn is the only way to avoid having to vote yes.
I’m really curious what Senator Chris Coons said that convinced Flake to call for the investigation.
McConnell brought the ACA repeal to a final vote on the floor. Many people here felt that vote would not be in doubt. It failed.
We don’t know what the FBI will come up with. And time is most definitely not McConnell’s friend.
The outcome is uncertain, but the Republicans would fail to confirm Kavanaugh if Murkowski and Collins vote No, as they did on the ACA. And we can see that the troglodytes on Senate Judiciary are not pitching their argument to win the votes of Murkowski and Collins.
. . . the more delay, the more the odds of confirmation decline (for a range of reasons).
In that sense, and that sense only (unless he surprises me by actually voting “no”!), Flake will have done one good thing.
Ain’t much.
Ain’t nuthin’.
Note there are 5 other GOP female senators. They have yet to say a word. Not even a joint statement of support for Kav. Appears they have been told to be good little place holders and keep their mouths shut.
At this point, I’m going to refrain from disparaging Flake, Murkowski, and I guess Collins. This could be a meaningful delay, it might not. We will just have to see. I’d keep up the pressure regardless.
Doesn’t Trump actually have to authorize the investigation? I thought the process was that Grassley could request the president re-open the background investigation, but the executive branch is the one that actually has to say yes. After all of what Trump has already said, maybe he just says no… suck it up and vote? And if he says yes… I’m thinking that Judge refuses to talk, pleads the 5th, or takes a long vacation in the amazon…
Flake may have indeed given Collins, Murkowski & himself or more an offramp going forward. But Flake’s intervention gave so much more.
He opened a door that power abusers like Grassley & McConnell have been slamming in everyone’s face for too long. Coons was right to persuade Flake to use this moment to leverage the cool down that Flake spoke about on the floor this week. The 2 women in the elevator were right when they implored Flake to allow their voices to be heard. Flake was right to allow himself to be persuaded and he did more for the Rep party as a whole this moment than other leaders have done since McCain did his famous thumbs down vote.
People are tired of being locked in these political rooms where nothing but emotion is allowed. They’re weary of being called tribal and unpatriotic and want some kind of common sense respite. Flake gave all of us that today and for at least a few hours we’re better off for it.
Now the question is how to build on this.
Every day that Kavanaugh waits, the more negative info will come out about him. His nomination was hanging by a thread when Dr. Ford testified. Then he went on his Trumpian Rant and every Conservative said “oooh! He’ll really stick it to the Lib-tards! We’ve gotta have him!”
But, he lied so much it’s impossible the FBI won’t be able to impeach his credibility in many ways.
They won’t be able to totally prove anything of course. But, it will be even worse publicity than it is now. Meanwhile nothing is going to come out to implicate Ford in lying, which is what the Alt-Right is now insisting happened.
This is unmitigated bad news for Kavanaugh and Trump – although it might be great news for Trump and Republicans if Democrats can ultimately block the nomination through the election, that will fire up the GOP Base – maybe just enough that they hold onto the House and Senate.
But, that’s unlikely. Everybody is posturing for position, but they ultimately will vote for Kavanaugh. They will be able to say that “Dems wanted an investigation. Well, we investigated and they couldn’t find anything to fully substantiate these charges. Nothing proves he did it, and it was decades ago, so we’re voting to confirm him.”
Then the GOP base will go back to sleep chortling “Loser! Lib-Tard!” and the Democrats will win the election going away.
I’m reminded of the immortal words of William Goldman
Would those eternal words be “As you wish?”
The Crowdpac against Collins is now just shy of $1.7M. Seems to have grown by $60K since I checked in the middle of the day. Nearly 60K contributions.
It’s pissing her off. Good!
(I still have no idea why she voted against the repeal of the health care act, but I don’t believe for a moment that she was looking out for her constituents. I can only suspect that there must have been things going on in the back room and she was best positioned to take the fall. But what do I know.)
It’s long past time for her to go, however she votes on this. I was glad to see Frank Rich giving her a special dishonorable mention today.
The words “FBI” and “no more than a week” are mutually contradictory.
It is such a huge, messed-up bureaucracy that it takes more than a week just to decide exactly which hustler is safe to put in charge of such an investigation, and then weeks upon more weeks of painstaking fakery to come up with evidence that points in the desired direction.
Flake knows this. He’s a senator, part of a similarly dysfunctional bureaucracy.
This “delay” is just a sop to the generally under-informed voters…especially those who might vote on Flake one day…that might be wondering why Kavanaugh is being walked through the proceedings when the televised hearings are so plainly illustrating that his is a nasty spirit on so many levels.
Business as usual.
Cool down the furor for a news cycle or two and then do whatever the hell it is that you want to do.
AG
P.S. In the “If it were only possible” category:
The Dems win control of both houses and then impeach the entire control system.
Themselves included.
If only…
Judge Rapey McDrunk told so many lies in that hearing that nothing good can possibly come out of an FBI investigation.
Republicans are focusing only on whether they can find a corroborating witness who actually saw the incident and remembers it, or has a memory of having heard a contemporaneous account from one of the principals telling what happened — years before there could possibly be any reason to lie – when the entire matter was a matter of no great significance to anybody not directly involved.
But, what idiot Republicans don’t understand is that the FBI actually has some of the best field interrogators in the world, who are highly trained and adept at getting information from witnesses, especially cooperating witnesses. There are a million threads. Given a month, they could ferret out so much corroborating evidence that would paint a very clear picture of what sort of behavior Kavanaugh and his buddies – and Dr. Ford were like at the time. What did witnesses see them do?
Even a week will be plenty of time for them to interview lots of witnesses all over the country. The problem will probably be rather too many witnesses coming forward than too few. They will have a veritable fountain of information.
And of course Kavanaugh and his little gang of privileged rich assholes undoubtedly raped a LOT of women, most of whom have zero intention of ever coming out of the closet, but who will be asked questions under oath. It’s a FELONY to lie to an FBI investigator. They have a legal duty to answer questions truthfully, although they do not have a duty to answer any questions if they choose not to do so, the FBI can inform them that if the FBI considers their testimony as critical to a federal investigation they CAN be subpoenaed down to appear at the local Federal District Court, and forced to testify under oath.
The FBI almost certainly has no intention of doing that, but almost any witness confronted at the front door by two FBI agents who show their badges and want to ask a few questions are going to be real, real cooperative. I know I would sit down and talk to them right there and answer whatever questions they had absolutely truthfully, whether I wanted to or not.
It takes a certain kind of courage to tell them to buzz off that most people who don’t want trouble, don’t feel is worth the hassle it could undoubtedly cause – IF the FBI wanted to make it hard on the citizen.
And that is what the FBI agent is careful never to openly say, or even suggest, but it’s clearly understood by both parties, that “you do understand that these questions could be put to you under far less pleasant circumstances, right? Wouldn’t it be simpler and easier to cooperate and answer truthfully what you know?”
LOTS of women might come forward under those circumstances. That’s what happened with Trump after all – after the Access Hollywood Tapes came out, lots more joined the “#MeToo”.
Trump is sure waking up women all over this country, and they are seriously pissed off. “That’s gonna cost ya, GOP!”