With a Judiciary Committee vote set for Friday on SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reports that President Trump in “private discussions” talked “repeatedly about needing to see how the hearing goes before knowing what can happen next”:
Trump is sounding somewhat fatalistic about Kavanaugh in private discussions. Annoyed by the interview, and talking repeatedly about needing to see how the hearing goes before knowing what can happen next.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 26, 2018
Politico adds that President Trump is not yet “leaning on individual Senate Republicans to confirm” Kavanaugh:
Trump may be following the Kavanaugh drama, but he's not leaning on individual Senate Republicans to confirm him https://t.co/GSKb2OdKa0
— POLITICO (@politico) September 26, 2018
And NBC News is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not yet have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh:
Senate Republicans don’t yet have the votes to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, even as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is projecting a public face of certainty. https://t.co/zXuivkuXkB
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 26, 2018
To add to all of this, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford submitted four new sworn declarations from people her attorneys argue will “corroborate her claims of sexual assault” by Kavanaugh:
NEW: The attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford have sworn and signed declarations from four people who corroborate her claims of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. https://t.co/sc6acQ4Nsx via @usatoday
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
According to USA Today, they’ll come up in Thursday’s hearing:
The declarations will be used by Ford’s attorneys during a committee hearing on Thursday that could determine the fate of Kavanaugh’s embattled nomination.
We’ll note that none of the four people witnessed the sexaul assault but had allegedly been told of the assault by Ford prior to Kavanaugh’s nomination this year:
All from after 2012, except husband. Not a great deal that's new. https://t.co/jZkQELNlbE
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) September 26, 2018
And people are calling it “corroboration.” I don’t think they know what the word means.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) September 26, 2018
Summary here:
"Ford’s attorneys present declarations from Ford’s husband, Russell, and three friends who support the California college professor’s accusation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to pull off her clothes while both were high school students in 1982."
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
"In her declaration, Adela Gildo-Mazzon said Ford told her about the alleged assault during a June 2013 meal at a restaurant in Mountain View, California, and contacted Ford’s attorneys on Sept. 16 to tell them Ford had confided in her five years ago."
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
"In another declaration, Keith Koegler said Ford revealed the alleged assault to him in 2016, when the two parents were watching their children play in a public place and discussing the “light” sentencing of Stanford University student Brock Turner."
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
On that day, Koegler said Ford revealed to him in an email that the person who had assaulted her in high school was President Donald Trump’s “favorite for SCOTUS.”
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
In his response email, Koegler wrote, “I remember you telling me about him, but I don’t remember his name. Do you mind telling me so I can read about him?”
Ford’s emailed response: “Brett Kavanaugh.”
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
In another declaration, Rebecca White, a neighbor and friend of more than six years, said Ford revealed the alleged assault against her in 2017. " [Dr. Ford] told me she had read a recent social media post I had written about my own experience with sexual assault."
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
“She then told me that when she was a young teen, she had been sexually assaulted by an older teen,” White continued. “I remember her saying that her assailant was now a federal judge.”
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
In his declaration, Ford’s husband said he learned of his wife’s experience with sexual assault “around the time we got married” but that she didn’t share details until a couple’s therapy session in 2012.
— Laura Walker ??? ???????? (@LauraWalkerKC) September 26, 2018
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Related:
Christine Blasey Ford's lawyers trying to dictate which news outlets are allowed to cover her https://t.co/DizM6XbnfX
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 26, 2018
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