On Sunday, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), called for the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to be halted while the FBI investigates allegations of sexual assault.
Feinstein’s statement came after The Washington Post published a detailed investigation featuring a first-hand account by California professor Christine Blasey Ford, who was speaking out for the first time since news of her confidential letter containing details of the alleged attack became public last week. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.
Feinstein wrote that Ford’s allegationsāwhich include being pinned down, groped, and silenced by Kavanaugh at a high school partyāwere “extremely serious and bear heavily on Judge Kavanaugh’s character.”
The FBI investigation “should happen before” the continuation of the confirmation process, she wrote:
.ā¦@SenFeinsteinā© calls the allegations against Kavanaugh āextremely serious and bear heavily on Judge Kavanaughās character.ā She says FBI investigation āshould happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee.ā pic.twitter.com/wZjJcXThI5
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 16, 2018
Feinstein’s call may well go unanswered. Before the Post’s report containing Ford’s account was published, three of her colleagues, Sens. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) told Sunday talkshows that new allegations should not delay proceedings. āSenator Feinsteinās had the letter since July,ā Kennedy told āFox News Sunday.ā āFor three months, she said nothing, nothing, zero, nada, zilch.”
Read the full story at The Washington Post.