Flake rips Trump, lawmakers over handling of Kavanaugh allegations
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) ripped both President Trump and his fellow lawmakers on Wednesday for their handling of a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“I do not believe that a claim of sexual assault is invalid because a 15-year-old girl didn’t promptly report the assault to the authorities, as the president of the United States said just two days ago,” Flake said.
{mosads}Flake questioned what sort of message Trump’s rhetoric has on young woman and how often politicians would “marginalize and ignore woman.”
“How uninformed and uncaring do you have to be to say things like that, much less believe them? Do we have any idea what kind of message that sends, especially to young women? How many times do we have to marginalize and ignore women before we learn that important lesson?” Flake asked.
Trump late last week week questioned why Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault, didn’t report the alleged incident at the time.
“You say, why didn’t somebody call the FBI 36 years ago? … I mean, you could also say, when did this all happen? What’s going on?” Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
On Tuesday, the president added that the allegations are “a con game being played by the Democrats.”
Flake also took aim at how his colleagues have handled the allegation, which came amid an already deeply partisan fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination.
He said that senators have turned Kavanaugh and Ford into “unwitting combatants in an undeclared war.”
“If we cannot have a human — rather than a political — response to these witnesses, if we are heedless to the capacity that we have to do real and lasting damage, then maybe we shouldn’t be here,” Flake said.
Flake also used his speech to defend Ford and Kavanaugh against attacks being lobbed from both sides.
He said Ford wasn’t trying to “smear” Kavanaugh. Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have accused Democrats of using Ford’s allegation to run a “smear campaign” against his nomination.
“What I do know is that I don’t believe that Dr. Ford is part of some kind of vast conspiracy from start to finish to smear Judge Kavanaugh, as has been alleged by some on the right,” Flake said.
“And what I do know is that I don’t believe that Judge Kavanaugh is some kind of serial sexual predator, as has been alleged by some on the left,” he continued.
Flake, during the floor speech, did not indicate how he would vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“I do not know how I will assess the credibility of these witnesses — these human beings — on the grave matters that will be testified to, because I have not yet heard a word of their testimony, and because I am not psychic. I am not gifted with clairvoyance,” he said.
He added that “given these limitations, I will have to listen to the testimony before I make up my mind about the testimony.”
Flake is a member of the Judiciary Committee and one of a few GOP senators who have yet to say how they will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. If he votes against Kavanaugh, the nominee would not have the support needed to be reported favorably out of the committee.
But GOP leadership has other options for getting Kavanaugh to a floor vote, where he needs a simple majority support.
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