Apart from the news that yet another woman is accusing Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, it also appears that Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee learned about this last week. Their reaction was—apparently—to try to speed up the confirmation process before the American people could find out about it, or at least until the new allegations could be properly investigated.
As explained by Think Progress:
A second woman says that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh violated her sexually, according to a new report by the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. The woman, Deborah Ramirez, alleges that Kavanaugh ”thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away” while they were both drinking at a dorm room party at Yale University.
Worse, Farrow and Mayer’s report suggests that Senate Republicans tried to speed up Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote upon learning of this second accuser. “Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week,” according to the report. “Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote.”
Specifically, this is what Farrow and Mayer’s article in the New Yorker says:
Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote.
The New Yorker article isn’t clear on which Republican Senate staff members were made aware of the allegations last week. But if “Senior Republican staffers” knew about it, it seems very fair to assume that the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee knew about it. And lo and behold, here was Orrin Hatch, last Tuesday:
If Farrow and Mayer’s reporting is accurate, Hatch and the entire Republican side of the Judiciary Committee knew that the next shoe was about to drop. And yet last week, they still urged that the vote be fast-tracked.
Here’s Senator Lindsey Graham, pushing for an immediate vote last week:
Sen. Graham cast doubt on how Ford, on a professor’s salary, would be able to afford the $300 polygraph test she took to validate her claim, and later tweeted that Kavanaugh needs to be confirmed as soon as possible. ... “Requiring an FBI investigation of a 36 year old allegation (without specific references to time or location) before Professor Ford will appear before the Judiciary Committee is not about finding the truth, but delaying the process till after the midterm elections,” he wrote. “It is imperative the Judiciary committee move forward on the Kavanaugh nomination and a committee vote be taken ASAP.”
And here’s Senator Chuck Grassley:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who, like his colleague, dismissed the idea of a proper investigation: “Dr. Ford’s testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events,” he said in a statement. “Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay.”
What needs to be established is when the Ramirez allegations were brought to the attention of these “senior Republican staffers.” Admittedly, Dr. Blasey Ford was negotiating whether and when she would testify at all during this time frame. But that’s not really an excuse. If Graham and Grassley already knew about the Ramirez allegations before they came out with these statements, that would suggest that they were knowingly attempting to defraud the American public regarding Kavanaugh’s true character.