Liberals are targeting Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in the hope of delaying a vote on SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh until more information is known about these new allegations by Christine Blasey Ford…but…
I hate to make this political. But it is. And we are running out of time. This comes down to @SenatorCollins & @lisamurkowski.
They must stand up for women everywhere.
Please flood their twitter streams. Ask them to do the right thing for the country and #PostponeTheHearing.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 16, 2018
…But, it could be that retiring Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona is the key:
Jeff Flake is retiring and has no political rationale to jam through a nominee facing a sexual assault allegation
We now get to find out who he really is
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 16, 2018
He just announced that a vote on Kavanaugh should be postponed “until we hear more”:
NEWS: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tells me in an intv he that doesn’t think the Judiciary Cmte should move ahead with its Thursday vote on Kavanaugh until they hear more from Christine Blasey Ford. “For me, we can’t vote until we hear more.”
— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) September 16, 2018
We can add Sen. Bob Corker, who is also retiring, to the list of Republican who can delay Kavanaugh’s vote:
I know why Collins and Murkowski are getting heat on Kavanaugh, but those same folks should be leaning hard on Corker and Flake, two dudes with nothing to lose.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) September 16, 2018
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FWIW, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he is open to hearing more from Ford:
Sen. Graham: "If Ms. Ford wishes to provide information to the committee, I would gladly listen to what she has to say and compare that against all other information we have received about Judge Kavanaugh."
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) September 16, 2018
And it sounds like Sen. Chuck Grassley, who as Chairman of the Judicial Committee controls all of this, is working with Sen. Dianne Feinstein to make that happen:
NEWS — Grassley and Feinstein jointly working on scheduling follow up calls with both Kavanaugh and Ford, per spox pic.twitter.com/71PYAU9OqQ
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 16, 2018
Update. From Susan Collins:
Susan Collins tells @gregclarycnn she‘s “very surprised”re Kavanaugh allegation and “it’s an issue that I brought up with him last Friday and he denied” it. Asked if committee should vote this week, she said: “I’m going to be talking with my colleagues,” declining further comment
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 16, 2018
Do you believe the accuser?
Collins: “I don’t know enough to create the judgment at this point.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 16, 2018
Update 2: From Sen. Corker:
More news: Sen. Bob Corker tells me that the Senate Judiciary panel shouldn't vote on Kavanaugh until Ford is heard out. "I think that would be best for all involved, including the nominee. If she does want to be heard, she should do so promptly." https://t.co/QgOpMKAtRn
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) September 17, 2018
Editor’s note: This post has been updated.
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Related:
Ben Shapiro gives his take on the Kavanaugh allegations and what "adds additional suspicion" https://t.co/dGlFMIvs4p
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 16, 2018
"Here's what we know": Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley reacts to new Kavanaugh allegation report https://t.co/Q7KcRhoAvx
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 16, 2018
Bad all around: The allegations now published about Brett Kavanaugh seem to be a lose-lose for everyone https://t.co/j2DuWu9jRx
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 16, 2018
"Corralled her into a bedroom": Brett Kavanaugh's accuser from the 1980s speaks to the Washington Post https://t.co/4KhPHx2bBZ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 16, 2018
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