Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that he is “more pissed” than he has ever been at his Democratic colleagues, amid allegations of sexual assault being levied against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Graham said Thursday during a break in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of Kavanaugh and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, that Democrats “put us here” with last minute allegations against Kavanaugh that led to Thursday’s hearing.
“[Democrats] knew about this in August. I am more pissed than I’ve ever been about how much information they had and when they had it. We’re here because they put us here,” Graham told a swarm of reporters during the Senate panel’s midday break.
After listening to the first portion of Ford’s testimony, Graham — who was a prosecutor and judge — railed against his Democratic colleagues who reportedly knew of Ford’s allegations since August. Democrats, Graham said, refused to act on Ford’s accusations until she brought them forth publicly in a Sept. 16 report in The Washington Post.
“I am not going to let an accusation that’s not corroborated be outcome determinative when it comes to what I think is a record full of a life well-lived,” Graham said of Kavanaugh.
“Why don’t you believe him? What’s it about him that you don’t want to believe?” Graham asked reporters. “They tried to destroy this guy’s life with one accusation after another,” Graham added of the women accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
Asked if the Judiciary Committee would still vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Friday morning, Graham responded “I intend to.”
Graham ended his heated back-and-forth with reporters by offering a warning to Democrats.
“And to my Republican colleagues, if you can ignore everything in this record — an allegation that’s 35 years old, that’s uncertain in time, place, date and no corroboration, if that’s enough for you, God help us all as Republicans,” he continued. “Because this happens to us, but this never happens to them. Let me tell my Democratic friends, if this is the new norm, you better watch out for your nominees.”
Ford first approached her congresswoman, California Rep. Anna Eshoo (D), about her allegations against Kavanaugh in July, after it was reported that Kavanaugh was on President Trump’s shortlist for nominees to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
A letter was sent from Eshoo’s office later that month to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) detailing the allegation.
Ford told the Senate panel that she thought Kavanaugh was going to rape her and might accidentally kill her when he allegedly put his hand over her mouth to muffle her cries for help. Ford, on Thursday and in her accusations detailed in the Post, claimed that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her when the two were at a high school party in the early 1980s.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegations and the accusations of sexual misconduct brought forth by two other women this week.
— Molly K. Hooper
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