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Jeff Flake: the man who may hold Kavanaugh's future in his hands Republican senator Jeff Flake faces angry protesters in an elevator
(about 5 hours later)
The future of US supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh may come down to the vote of one man: Arizona senator Jeff Flake, a Republican known as a critic of Donald Trump. Shortly after Jeff Flake released a statement saying he intended to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court, two women confronted the Arizona Republican senator in an elevator, identifying themselves as sexual assault survivors. Flake’s vote had remained in doubt until this morning.
Following Thursday’s marathon testimony before the Senate judiciary committee from Kavanaugh and Dr Christine Blasey Ford who accuses the judge of sexual assault when they were both teenagers the committee is set to vote on Friday on whether to approve Kavanaugh’s nomination. One of the women said she had recognized from her own experience being assaulted that Dr Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses the judge of sexual assault when they were both teenagers, was telling the truth.
The committee splits 11 Republicans to 10 Democrats, meaning just one GOP senator could make all the difference. “What you are doing is allowing someone that actually violated a woman to sit on the supreme court,” she said, in the tense and emotional exchange broadcast live on CNN.
“I cannot imagine for the next 50 years they will have to have someone in the supreme court who has been accused of violating a young girl. What are you doing, sir?”
Women confront Sen. Jeff Flake after he says he'll vote yes to Kavanuagh: “That’s what you’re telling all women in America, that they don’t matter. They should just keep it to themselves because if they have told the truth you’re just going to help that man to power anyway.” pic.twitter.com/T7fSpyT69E
A second woman told her story as Flake, giving the appearance of conflicted guilt, remained trapped in the elevator.
“I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me. I didn’t tell anyone and you’re telling all women that they don’t matter. That they should just stay quiet, because if they tell you what happened to them you’re going to ignore them. That’s what happened to me and that’s what you’re telling all women in America,” she said.
Flake’s aides attempted to usher the two women out of the elevator, to no avail.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” the second woman continued. “You’re telling me that my assault doesn’t matter and that you’re going to let people who do these things into power … that you’ll let people like that go to the highest court in the land and tell everyone what they can do to their bodies.”
“Thank you, thank you,” Flake responded, as they asked if he believed Kavanaugh was telling the truth.
“Thank you is not an answer. This is about the future of our country, sir,” the first woman said.
Voices from the hallway can be heard joining the fray. “You could be a hero today,” one man said.
Flake has been one of the most prominent Republican voices standing up for Ford, telling the Senate before the committee hearing on Wednesday: “I do not believe the claim of sexual assault is invalid because a 15-year-old girl didn’t report the assault to authorities, as the president of the United States said just two days ago. How uninformed and uncaring do we have to be to say things like that, much less believe them?”Flake has been one of the most prominent Republican voices standing up for Ford, telling the Senate before the committee hearing on Wednesday: “I do not believe the claim of sexual assault is invalid because a 15-year-old girl didn’t report the assault to authorities, as the president of the United States said just two days ago. How uninformed and uncaring do we have to be to say things like that, much less believe them?”
Following the testimony by Ford and Kavanaugh, he said of the California psychology professor: “She was certainly a compelling person. She gave good testimony.” He released a statement on Friday morning saying he left yesterday’s hearing with “as much doubt as certainty”.
But he added: “This isn’t easy,” saying the hearing had left him “with as much doubt as certainty We just do the best we can.” “What I do know is that our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence. That is what binds us to the rule of law,” he said. “While some may argue that a different standard should apply regarding the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities, I believe that the constitution’s provisions of fairness and due process apply here as well.”
Flake’s announcement leaves three other senators whose votes are unknown, Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee who, like Flake, has been a rare Republican to occasionally criticize Donald Trump, announced on Thursday evening that he would also support Kavanaugh. Corker said nothing presented on Thursday corroborated the allegations brought against Kavanaugh.
“There is no question that Judge Kavanaugh is qualified to serve on the supreme court, and in a different political environment, he would be confirmed overwhelmingly.”
Flake has been a consistent thorn in Donald Trump’s side, refusing to endorse him in 2016 and last year announcing his retirement from the Senate because there was no room for him in a party dominated by the current president.Flake has been a consistent thorn in Donald Trump’s side, refusing to endorse him in 2016 and last year announcing his retirement from the Senate because there was no room for him in a party dominated by the current president.
“When the next generation asks us: ‘Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you speak up? What are we going to say?’” he asked his Senate colleagues in his speech telling them he would be joining a large number of Republicans standing down in the wake of Trump’s victory, something that analysts think will help the Democrats’ chances at the midterms this November.“When the next generation asks us: ‘Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you speak up? What are we going to say?’” he asked his Senate colleagues in his speech telling them he would be joining a large number of Republicans standing down in the wake of Trump’s victory, something that analysts think will help the Democrats’ chances at the midterms this November.
In his 2017 book Conscience of a Conservative, which took aim at Trump’s populist trade policies, Flake wrote: “In the 2016 election, a suffering American working class was ripe for Trump’s message of fear, which was relieved to hear an easy solution that only he had thought of and only he could execute. Such a reductive populist message should make conservatives ill. But as this message advanced, we retreated, before capitulating altogether.”
Trump has returned the compliment, saying of the outgoing Arizona senator: “Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!”
Flake is no liberal, and according to website FiveThirtyEight has voted with Trump’s position in the Senate 83.6% of the time, backing controversial cabinet nominees Jeff Sessions, Ben Carson, Betsy DeVos, Scott Pruitt and others. He also voted for the rolling back of bank regulations, to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and for the failed attempts to repeal Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare reforms, Obamacare.
But as well as opposing Trump on trade he has lambasted the president on immigration, and was the co-author of a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013 that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US.
Now, as he prepares to leave the Senate, Flake may play a role as pivotal as that of another Republican Trump critic representing Arizona, the late senator John McCain, who helped block Obamacare repeal.
Even if Kavanaugh fails to pass the committee stage on Friday, however, Republicans could still put him up for a vote of the full Senate, fearful that Democrats may snatch control of the chamber against the odds in November and make the approval of any other Trump-nominated judge difficult, if not impossible.
But in the full Senate victory for Kavanaugh would be just as tricky. If all Democrats vote no, just two Republicans could sink his nomination, and swing-vote senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, like Flake, have raised concerns about the accusations against the judge. On the other hand, the conservative Democrat Joe Manchin may break ranks and vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
For now, all eyes will be on the outgoing senator for Arizona as the judiciary committee prepares to meet on Friday.
Brett KavanaughBrett Kavanaugh
US supreme courtUS supreme court
RepublicansRepublicans
Law (US)Law (US)
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
US politicsUS politics
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