Kanavaugh Hearings Update

Ken AshfordCrime, Sex Scandals, Sex/Morality/Family Values, Supreme Court, Trump & Administration, Women's IssuesLeave a Comment

The hearings are a sham.  The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee (all older white men) will not question any witnesses, but will cede their power to a woman named Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona prosecutor.

Mitchell is the chief of the special victims division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which deals with sexual assault cases, among others. A registered Republican, Mitchell has worked for in the county attorney’s office for 26 years.

In enlisting Mitchell to join their staff, Republican senators are taking an unusual step. They are turning to her to ask what are expected to be personal and potentially painful questions about the woman’s youth on live television, sparing the all-male panel of 11 Republican senators on the committee some uncomfortable exchanges that could sway the public’s opinion about the session.

That’s not the only thing unusual about the hearing tomorrow. The other thing is that there will be testimony from only two people: Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford.  Each senator will get five minutes of questioning (which means, presumably, that Mitchell gets 55 minutes per witness).  But there will be nobody but those two — basically formalizing a he said/she said.

What can be gained from that?  Very little. I expect both will be deemed “credible”.  But most people, I assume, will have made up their minds.

The vote is scheduled for Friday morning.

This is not an investigation for the truth. The intention of the hearings, for Republicans, is not to determine the facts of the case, but to assuage the few senators who could be swing votes on the nomination: potentially Sens. Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski. Just two Republican senators voting against him would be enough to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination.

Even the president has hinted this is the party’s goal. He told reporters Wednesday morning he would have preferred that the nomination process were sped up earlier, to defray any questions into Kavanaugh’s background.

There will be no testimony from the eyewitness identified by Ford: Mark Judge. 

And there will be no testimony related to a SECOND allegation against Kavanaugh. Deborah Ramirez has provided corroboration for her story. According to the New Yorker, a classmate of Ramirez’s told the publication he heard that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to Ramirez at a party shortly after it allegedly happened. Another classmate says he heard about the incident at the time, but wasn’t specifically aware that Kavanaugh was the alleged perpetrator.

And now, Michael Avenatti reveals his client: yet another Kavanaugh accuser, Julie Swetnick.

Will the Swetnick allegation be looked at?  Probably not.

Here’s where Kavanaugh may have made a mistake: the Fox News interview. There, he portrayed himself as something of a choir boy. He drank, he said, but was always respectful of women. That did not go over well with many.

….. and it is not even noon.

UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY….

Remember, the “train” rape allegation is not new here…

Kavanaugh seems to be backtracking in an under oath statement he issued today — now admits to some heavy drinking as a teen

Uh oh — Trump is entering the fray with Accuser #3

That’s kind of odd, because the Stormy Daniels accusations turned out to be true!

Avenatti responds to Trump….

Dems call on Trump to withdraw the nomination or have an FBI investigation —

Keep digging, GOP.  It’s not helping!

Submission from Ford’s lawyers to the committee including polygraph results:

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Oy vey….

In other corners of DC….