Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday blasted Senate Democrats over their handling of a decades-old sexual misconduct allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“After Democrats have spent weeks and weeks searching for any possible reason that the nomination should be delayed, now, now, they choose to introduce this allegation,” McConnell said from the Senate floor.
{mosads}He added that Democrats didn’t go through a “bipartisan process” or “proper channels,” instead choosing to introduce the accusation by “leaking it to the press.”
“They did not raise it in the closed session, the proper forum where such an allegation could have been addressed with discretion and sensitivity,” McConnell said.
McConnell’s comments are the first time he’s publicly weighed on the allegation against Kavanaugh since it first surfaced last week.
Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, went public on Sunday with her allegation that Kavanaugh held her down and groped her at a party in the early 1980s.
Republicans are facing growing calls to hear from Ford before the Judiciary Committee moves forward with a vote that is currently scheduled for Thursday.
McConnell didn’t weigh in on what the Senate’s next step should be and sidestepped multiple questions from reporters on the issue.
But he said Grassley is following “standard practice and regular order.”
Grassley is working to set up staff calls with Ford and Kavanaugh.