This is not a good sign for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “we’re just gonna plow through it” theory of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. GOP Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said Monday she believed the Senate Judiciary Committee should hear from Kavanaugh’s second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who alleges that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when the two were freshman at Yale University in the early ‘80s. The Hill writes:
“I believe that the committee investigators should reach out to Deborah Ramirez to question her under oath about what she is alleging happened,” Collins told reporters, when asked what she made of the latest allegation against Kavanaugh.
But Collins also indicated she did not think Ramirez should testify this Thursday—when Kavanaugh’s first accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to appear before the panel—because Senate staffers haven’t had a chance to even interview Ramirez yet.
The last time Collins said she believed the committee should hear from a Kavanaugh accuser, she was speaking about Dr. Blasey Ford, setting off the high-stakes negotiations between Blasey Ford’s attorneys and Senate Republicans that resulted in the hearing later this week.
McConnell probably can’t afford to lose Collins’ vote with his slim 51-to-49 seat majority, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has generally been a study in not telegraphing anything about her vote. That means McConnell can’t simply ignore Collins altogether.
Collins’ pronouncement came right around the same time Kavanaugh was set to shore up his dismal 30-plus percent support of the electorate with a softball interview on FOX NEWS. Supreme Court nominees typically don’t grant media interviews while Senators are still mulling their votes—unless their nomination is taking on serious water.