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With a Key Vote Secured, Senators Poised to Advance Kavanaugh’s Nomination
In Dramatic Reversal, Flake Seeks Additional F.B.I Investigation into Kavanaugh
(35 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — Senator Jeff Flake, the lone swing Republican vote on the Judiciary Committee, said Friday morning that he would vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, ensuring committee passage and bringing President Trump’s nominee to the brink of confirmation less than 24 hours after a remarkable public hearing with a woman accusing him of sexual assault.
WASHINGTON — In a dramatic reversal, Senator Jeff Flake, the lone swing Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said on Friday that he would vote to advance Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination in the committee, but wants a one-week delay before the full Senate vote to allow the F.B.I. time to investigate accusations of sexual assault leveled against Judge Kavanaugh.
Mr. Flake, of Arizona, announced his decision just moments before the 21 senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered to hold the first of a series of votes on the nomination. As other Republicans lined up in support of Judge Kavanaugh as he denied the accusations, it had been unclear how Mr. Flake would vote after hearing tearful and compelling accounts from Judge Kavanaugh and the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
Mr. Flake, an Arizona Republican, had said in a statement Friday morning that he would vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, less than 24 hours after a remarkable public hearing with a woman accusing him of sexual assault.
[Four key takeaways from the hearing.]
But after hushed negotiations with Democrats outside the hearing room, Mr. Flake, who is retiring at the end of the term, chose a different course. His decision threw the the nomination into uncertainty just moments before the panel was set to vote.
“After hearing more than 30 hours of testimony from Judge Kavanaugh earlier this month, I was prepared to support his nomination based on his view of the law and his record as a judge,” Mr. Flake said in statement Friday morning.
Other Republicans on the panel have lined up in support of Judge Kavanaugh as he denied the accusations, particularly after hearing tearful and compelling accounts from Judge Kavanaugh and the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. Democrats have accused Republicans of a cover-up.
“Our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence,” he continued. “That is what binds us to the rule of law.”
Just after Mr. Flake’s statement saying he would vote yes, several activists cornered him at an elevator as he was on his way to the committee meeting.
With Mr. Flake’s vote, Republicans on the committee would have enough votes to advance the judge’s nomination to the full Senate. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s chairman, pushed through a party-line vote at the beginning of the hearing that set a final committee vote for 1:30 p.m.
Outside the hearing room, passions were running high. Mr. Flake was confronted at an elevator by two activists who told him through tears that they had been sexually assaulted. More than two dozen Democratic women (and a handful of men) from the House marched arm in arm to the committee’s hearing room, mimicking a similar march during the 1991 confirmation hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas. The lawmakers filled two rows of seats in the hearing room; at one point, they all stood up in silent protest.
Inside the room, in a repeat of Thursday, emotions were raw even by the standards of a highly partisan Senate. Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and former military prosecutor whose angry outburst on Thursday made headlines, delivered a blistering encore.
“This has been about delay and destruction, and if we reward this, it is the end of good people wanting to be judges,” Mr. Graham said. “It is the end of any concept of the rule of law. It’s the beginning of a process that will tear this country apart.”
Democrats on the panel, furious that Republicans will not authorize an F.B.I. investigation into Dr. Blasey’s allegations, pointedly accused Republicans of a cover-up and mocked Republicans’ assertions that they had been respectful to Dr. Blasey, who also goes by her married name, Ford.
“I don’t want to hear about respect for Dr. Ford when we’re not giving her the respect of having an investigation,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota.
Democrats repeatedly pointed to accusations from two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, who said that they either experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct by a drunken young Mr. Kavanaugh in high school or college. Judge Kavanaugh denied their claims, but neither woman was called to testify.
If the two parties had any agreement, it was that the confirmation process is broken.
“This Judiciary Committee is no longer an independent branch of government,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the chamber’s longest-serving Democrat and a former chairman of the committee. “We’re an arm, and a very weak arm, of the Trump White House. Every semblance of independence has just disappeared. It’s just gone.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, moved almost as soon as the meeting began to subpoena Mark Judge, a friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s whom Dr. Blasey and another accuser have placed at the scene of the incidents. Along party lines, the committee voted it down.
When Mr. Grassley initiated a vote to set the 1:30 deadline, some Democrats refused to even weigh in.
“This is just a total railroad job,” yelled Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii. Ms. Hirono and others then walked out of the hearing room. Outside, joined by the House Democrats, they called on Republicans to wake up and predicted an overwhelming backlash throughout the country.
The committee also ignored a request Thursday evening from the head of the American Bar Association to postpone the vote until Dr. Blasey’s sexual assault allegation, and those from other women, were investigated by the F.B.I. It was a significant request from the organization, which had previously endorsed Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. During testimony on Thursday, Mr. Graham, the South Carolina Republican, singled out the weight that the association carries in the legal community, calling it “the gold standard.”
Behind the scenes, the White House and the Judiciary Committee Republicans were working to reassure wavering senators. After watching Thursday’s proceedings, Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, told Republicans that she would find it difficult to vote for Judge Kavanaugh without a sworn statement from Mr. Judge, according to three people familiar with the matter. Mr. Judge, who previously denied any involvement in the alleged assault in a letter to the committee signed by his lawyer, figured heavily in Thursday’s hearing, and the committee’s refusal to subpoena him angered Democrats.
Just before midnight on Thursday, staff members for Mr. Grassley released just such a new sworn statement, signed by Mr. Judge himself, saying that he had no memory of events described by Dr. Blasey. “I am knowingly submitting this letter under penalty of felony,” he wrote.
Ms. Collins has not yet made a decision, aides say, much less notified Senate leaders of how she will vote. But Republicans at the White House and on Capitol Hill were increasingly confident by late Thursday night that they would have the votes of Ms. Collins and Senators Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat.
One other Democrat up for re-election, Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana, announced Friday that he would vote against Judge Kavanaugh, saying he would “gladly welcome the opportunity to work with President Trump on a new nominee.”
Mr. Grassley allowed Democrats to voice their objections, but he defended the committee. Republicans gave Dr. Blasey a hearing, he said, but it is up to the accuser to prove guilt. He also said, as he has before, that no F.B.I. investigation was necessary.
“Frankly, we’ve reached the point when it’s to end the circus,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. “It is time to show some dignity around here.”
If the committee votes in favor of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for the lifetime appointment, the question of whether he should be the next Supreme Court justice would go to the full Senate.
Before Mr. Flake announced his position, a White House spokesman, Raj Shah, said on Friday morning that he “cannot say for certain” that the four senators would vote in favor of Judge Kavanaugh. In an interview with CNN, Mr. Shah said Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony on Thursday helped move the senators in “the right direction.”
Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey provided hours of moving testimony on Thursday, streaming live on cable news networks, as the committee and the nation heard Dr. Blasey’s trembling account of a sexual assault and Judge Kavanaugh’s enraged denial and defense of his reputation.
Senators on the committee will decide whether Dr. Blasey’s story was too credible to risk putting a judge accused of sexual assault on the Supreme Court or whether Judge Kavanaugh’s denials were convincing enough to go through with the nomination, despite Dr. Blasey’s accusation.
[Analysis: She said. Then he said. What will the senators say?]
Dr. Blasey said she was “100 percent” sure that Judge Kavanaugh is the teenager who tried to rape her at a small party during the summer of 1982 in a Washington suburb. Judge Kavanaugh was just as certain that the event never happened: “Zero, I’m 100 percent certain.”
Just after Mr. Flake’s announcement, activists cornered him at an elevator as he was on his way to the committee meeting.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” one of them said. “You are telling me that my assault doesn’t matter, that what happened to me doesn’t, and that you’re going to let people who do these things into power. That’s what you’re telling me when you vote for him. Don’t look away from me.”
“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” one of them said. “You are telling me that my assault doesn’t matter, that what happened to me doesn’t, and that you’re going to let people who do these things into power. That’s what you’re telling me when you vote for him. Don’t look away from me.”
Mr. Flake stood largely mute, his gaze mainly to the ground, as the women held open the elevator and made their case to no avail.
Mr. Flake stood largely mute, his gaze mainly to the ground, as the women held open the elevator and made their case.
[Read a transcript of the confrontation.]
Mr. Flake has given few hints in recent days about his vote. He pushed hard behind the scenes for Thursday’s hearing to happen, telling party leaders he could not vote yes without hearing from Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh. But his public remarks in recent days, focused primarily on the dignity that had been stripped from the nomination process, have left fellow senators scratching their heads.
He declined to question Judge Kavanaugh on Thursday, using his brief remarks in the hearing room to chastise colleagues for their maximalist positions.
“There is doubt,” he said. “We’ll never move beyond that.”
But Republican leaders felt confident enough that they had Mr. Flake’s support late Thursday to go forward with Friday’s vote.
Mr. Flake met privately after the hearing Thursday night with Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski, and Mr. Manchin. After the meeting, Mr. Manchin, who is running for re-election in a state that supported Mr. Trump in 2016, said he had not made up his mind.
And in a meeting of Senate Republicans a short time later, Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski both addressed their colleagues in comments that three Republicans familiar with said were focused on ensuring that Judiciary Committee staff had taken all reasonable steps to evaluate Dr. Blasey’s claim and others. The two women did not tip their hands, the people said.
