In Senate hearings today, Republicans used every avenue available to block further investigations of multiple sexual assault allegations against Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh while making furious statements about the unfairness of the allegations against him. Whatever you may have once thought about how the Senate treated Anita Hill decades ago, this was worse; whatever pretense the nominee once clung to of being an impartial juror was done in by his long rant about a Democratic conspiracy to end his nomination via the exposure of allegations against him.
As witness, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony was measured, terse, and effective. She once again described the assault, when she was 15 years old, and stated her "100 percent" certainty in identifying the then-17-year-old Kavanaugh as her attacker.
Rather than asking questions of Dr. Ford directly, the all-male Republican contingent of the Judiciary Committee deferred to a female prosecutor brought in for that purpose. Many questions revolved around the timing of Dr. Ford coming forward; she credibly described the process by which she sought to bring her concerns to lawmakers before Kavanaugh was given the nomination, only to receive no apparent replies, eventually leading to her deciding to come forward to the press directly as a last attempt to get her experience heard.
It is not overstatement to say that Dr. Ford's testimony will be remembered, by a great many in the American public, for the rest of their lives. Social media was filled with pictures of Americans watching the hearings on planes and in public spaces; C-SPAN callers recounted their own rape experiences; public tears were frequent.
After a brief break, Kavanaugh responded with a 45-minute speech in which he very angrily and loudly declared all the allegations, categorically, false. He allowed that he "liked beer," not once but repeatedly; he refused all suggestions that he ever, even in high school, drank to excess. Most noteworthy was his furious assertion that the allegations against him were a partisan conspiracy by the minority party. (Objectively, he also again lied outright to the Senate, claiming well-known sexual references in his yearbook were nonsexual.)
This anger would spill into most, if not all, responses to Democratic questioners. While the White House may have advised Kavanaugh to be as combative as possible in his answers, it is not yet clear whether the fury with which he answered will sit as well with the public as it did among his Republican backers. Of special note was an even more furious speech by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who made it be known that this was among the most shameful things that had ever happened to anyone ever in politics.
Kavanaugh was asked repeatedly, by multiple Democratic senators, to request a fuller FBI investigation of the allegations against him or for testimony from other witnesses; he evaded the question every time.
On the Republican side, the prosecutor brought on by Republicans was soon abandoned in favor of Republicans one-by-one using their time to bemoan the "shameful" treatment of Brett Kavanaugh in having to answer these new allegations while themselves insisting that no further investigation or witnesses were needed. The pre-hearing strategy was clearly to churn through the hearing to proceed to a vote on short order, without soliciting any other testimony or further investigation. The strategy will only work if not even two Republican senators speak up to request further consideration of the allegations against him.
Note that of those accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault of themselves or others, the Senate has only solicited testimony from the first accuser, Dr. Ford. There has been no attempt to solicit testimony from the others, nor does it appear there will be—again, unless any among the Republicans come forward to object to this shameful plan.
It seems evident that Kavanaugh is guilty of what he has been accused of. His insistence that the FBI, the White House, and the Senate look no further is evidence enough of that.