Schumer to meet with Kavanaugh on Tuesday

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that he will meet with President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, on Tuesday. 

“I am going to meet with him next week and I’ll ask him about these documents and what he intends to do about it,” Schumer told reporters. 

Schumer added that he won’t let Kavanaugh “duck” questions about documents from his time in the George W. Bush White House. 

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“He can’t duck it. …He should have said already that he wants them released if he’s an open, fair, wonderful man, Supreme Court justice that he’s trying to portray himself to be,” Schumer said. 

An aide specified that Schumer will meet with Kavanaugh — Trump’s second potential Supreme Court appointee — on Tuesday.

Only three Democrats so far — Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) — have acknowledged meeting with Kavanaugh. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is also scheduled to meet with him next week. 

The meetings come after Democrats initially held off meeting with Kavanaugh amid efforts to get a deal with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on requesting Kavanaugh’s documents. 

But Grassley bypassed Democrats and sent his own request on behalf of the committee, asking only for Kavanaugh’s records from his time as a White House lawyer. 

Democrats also want records from Kavanaugh’s three-year period as a staff secretary, arguing that they could shed light on his stance on issues like torture or surveillance. 

But a Senate Democratic aide said earlier this month that Democrats would begin meeting with Kavanaugh and use the sit-downs to press the nominee on releasing documents from his time in the Bush White House. 

“Senate Democrats intend to demand that he call for and support the release of all of his files from his time in the Bush White House,” the aide said.