Committee Chair Chuck Grassley Steals the Judiciary Committee Recommendation
It’s unbelievable! The “two hour rule” has just sent an accused child attempted rapist to the Supreme Court, or at least to the Senate.
Jeff Flake on the Judiciary Committee moved to only report Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate with the provision that they have a one week FBI investigation limited to the charges already covered. But Chairman Grassley only voted on reporting it forward. That passed along Republican Party lines: 11 to 10.
Then Diane Feinstein moved to recommend or require the Senate to have a one week FBI investigation on all charges raised so far. That was not voted on because of the imposition of the TWO HOUR RULE, which was imposed by Chairman Grassley.
So………, nobody knows what is going on, but it seems up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who’s claim to fame is spending 293 days stealing Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, Merrick Garland.
Even if they get the FBI week, it is totally unclear whether it will be limited to the charges of Dr. Ford, or includes the other two women, whose cases were mentioned during the hearings.
What a great Senate we have!
Trump is leaving it up to the Senate. (LOL). I give him an hour until he tweets about it and also makes it all about himself.
Meanwhile, overnight, American Bar Association President Robert Carlson recommended an FBI investigation. That was criticized this morning as only coming from its head, and not the full recommendation committee. Let’s see how long it takes the full recommendation committee to back that up. Yesterday, Kavanaugh and others cited the ABA endorsement five times. The dean of the Yale Law School also called for further investigation. Even Fox’s Alan Dershowitz called for a review.
This morning, a friend of Kavanaugh’s at Yale came out and said that he was indeed drunk to incoherence while at Yale. She also said that many who had been at Yale with Kavanaugh had been discussing his lies about this.
The fact checking news and the minority members of the Judiciary committee have spent the morning presenting all of the exaggerations (lies?) that Kavanaugh made in his testimony. These border on perjury felonies.
Senator Graham said that he would be the next Republican head of the Judiciary Committee, and would take retribution on the Democrats.
Do the Republicans have the votes? Half an hour later, three Republicans and two Democrats are calling for an investigation. Retiring Senator Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona, Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Republican Susan Collins of Maine, and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota are the key votes.
Key witness Mark Judge has agreed to speak freely to the FBI.
The investigation will apparently be limited to just the charges by Dr. Ford.
Finally, only an hour and a half after the recommendation vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee will ask the administration to ask the FBI for a limited investigation. Now, it is said on MSNBC that the Judiciary Committee will give its final vote after the investigation.
So, it did all come back to Trump, who did order a limited investigation by the FBI. Something he could have done two weeks ago.
McConnell is now giving praise to Kavanaugh and reporting that the Judiciary committee has reported out to the Senate. And, that all 51 Republican Senators are okay with going forward. And, that Kavanaugh defeated his accusers. And, that the Senate will start considering the nomination today. But, the news says, they will not move onto the final vote until the FBI investigation is completed.
Democrats on the Judiciary committee gave logical and dignified discussions opposing Kavanaugh this morning.
As a good theorist, I am used to taking a theory and making predictions. I predict that if the FBI opens an open investigation, that Kavanaugh withdraws in a huff of indignation. Otherwise, he would be risking his current lifetime District Court judgeship, on the most influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
Apparently, according to today’s LA Times, sources have been wrong in saying that these times can now be prosecuted locally. In 1982, in Montgomery County Maryland, there was a one-year statute of limitations on assault and attempted rape, which were also only misdemeanors. Nobody has commented about the kidnapping possibilities, which include pushing Dr. Ford into the room, locking the door, and holding her down.
