Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who’s accusing him of attempting to rape her in high school, Christine Blasey Ford, were called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.
Ford went first and presented herself as a collected, credible, and empathetic witness. Kavanaugh followed with a grandstanding, angry, entitled performance in which he blubbered like a baby about to have his favorite toy taken away. Regardless of his guilt or innocence — and after Ford’s compelling testimony the former seems far more likely — he came across as a deeply partisan man, without the proper temperament to be a Supreme Court Justice.
Not surprisingly, Republicans used the hearing to defend and laud Kavanaugh and while they didn’t outright attack Ford, they tried to slowly chip away at her credibility. It was a disgusting farce, and a clear sign that forcing another right-wing idealogue onto the Supreme Court is all that matters to the GOP, even if it means confirming a sexual predator.
The one person missing from the hearing was Mark Judge, Kavanaugh’s friend who Ford claims was present when the nominee held her down at a party and attempted to rape her. He was the only other witness to the actual alleged event and his testimony is a major piece of the puzzle.
Rather than testify though, Judge has fled to a beach town, presumably to lay low in the hopes that the media circus around the allegations will die down soon and he can go back to his normal life.
This morning, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against an effort by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to subpoena Judge, according to The Hill. Blumenthal was hoping Judge could provide corroboration and that having him testify could unearth previously undisclosed facts about the alleged event.
“[Judge] has never been interviewed by the FBI. He has never been questioned by any member of our committee. He has never submitted a detailed account of what he knows and so I move … that we subpoena Mark Judge,” Blumenthal said.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) encapsulated the GOP’s shameful opposition to the perfectly reasonable subpoena request with his statement. He made the absurd claim that there’s no reason to have Judge testify because he already sent a letter to the committee. The letter appears to be little more than a bid by Judge to avoid having to answer tough questions in front of an audience.
New tonight: Mark Judge submits another letter to the Judiciary Committee, and signs it himself this time: “I do not recall the events described by Dr. Ford in her testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee today. I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes” pic.twitter.com/cKB3mCu88S
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) September 28, 2018
Both Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) refused to vote on the motion as a sign of protest. Republicans should be ashamed of this transparent attempt to obfuscate the truth, but as was made abundantly clear yesterday, their party is far past the point where they are even capable of feeling such an emotion.
