Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who is running for Senate against Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), told Valley News Live suggested that the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are not disqualifying “even if it’s all true.”
Said Cramer: “Even if it’s all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago, but does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?”
“Perhaps Brett Kavanaugh was a virgin for many years after high school. But he claimed otherwise in a conversation with me during our freshman year in Lawrance Hall at Yale, in the living room of my suite.”
— Steve Kantrowitz, a Yale classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on Twitter.
Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar writing in the Yale Daily News:
“I still stand by what I have said about Kavanaugh’s uniquely impressive judicial and scholarly record over the last dozen years.”
“But now that serious accusations have arisen about his conduct in his teenage years, I believe that these accusations deserve the best and most professional investigation possible — even if that means a brief additional delay on the ultimate vote on Judge Kavanaugh, and even if that investigatory delay imperils his confirmation.”
New York Times: “Even the toughest Supreme Court confirmation battles never quite came to this: a grim-faced nominee, stoic wife at his side, going on national television and describing when, approximately, he lost his virginity.”
“Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s appearance on Fox News on Monday night, submitting to a tough round of questions from the anchor Martha MacCallum about allegations of sexual misconduct, was the first time in memory that a Supreme Court nominee submitted to a televised interview before the confirmation vote.”
Jeffrey Toobin called the interview “weird.”
First Read: “But how impartial can a Supreme Court nominee be when he goes on Fox News – of all possible platforms – to defend himself?
“Indeed, you can argue that the entire process of this nomination – the protests, the accusations, the defenses and now the Fox News interview – makes it almost impossible for Kavanaugh to be viewed as an impartial player. And it’s doubly tough for someone who, despite serving on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, worked on the Ken Starr investigation in the 1990s and in the George W. Bush White House in the early 2000s.”
Mark Judge, the man who’s been named as the only witness to an alleged high-school sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh, was tracked down at a Delaware beach house by the Washington Post.
His only comment to the reporter: “How did you find me?”
“At first, the Sunday night publication of a New Yorker article detailing a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh looked like a disaster for the White House,” Politico reports.
“But by Monday afternoon, President Trump’s aides and allies argued it was not only survivable, but that they could turn an alleged ‘smear’ into a political winner that might help rescue Kavanaugh’s nomination. The judge’s accusers had overplayed their hand, they insisted of the mounting charges, and revealed the coordinated partisan attack on an honorable man.”
“Undergirding the firm response was the White House’s belief that surrender in the face of what Republican loyalists consider a liberal assault would cost Trump dearly with conservative voters, a view drawn from internal White House polling.”
Mike Allen: “Top Republicans tell me they remain confident that Kavanaugh will get the 50 votes he needs, in a floor vote that leaders hope to hold on Friday or Saturday.”
Brett Kavanaugh and several other football players listed themselves as “Renate Alumni” in their Georgetown Prep yearbooks, the New York Times reports, apparently “boasting about their conquests.”
Renate Schroeder Dolphin was one of 64 women who signed a letter earlier this month defending Kavanaugh’s character after he was accused of sexually assault while in high school, but was stunned when she learned of the yearbook references.
Said Dolphin: “I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through… the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way.”
“Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are opening the door to the panel voting on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination this week,” The Hill reports.
“Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters he would defer to Grassley on the timing of the vote but ‘Friday would be possible.'”
Washington Post: “Antsy and impatient, President Trump called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday with an unmistakable message: Call the vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and call it soon.”
James Roche, who was Brett Kavanaugh’s freshman year roommate at Yale, issued a statement on Deborah Ramirez’s accusations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in college:
Based on my time with Debbie, I believe her to be unusually honest and straightforward and I cannot imagine her making this up.
Based on my time with Brett, I believe that he and his social circle were capable of the actions that Debbie described.
Roche also gave an interview with KGO-TV.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh defended himself on Fox News against the sexual assault allegations roiling his nomination by saying he was a virgin through high school and college.
Said Kavanaugh: “I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone. I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter… The girls from the schools I went to, and I, were friends.”
He added that he did not have sex until “many years after” college.
Michael Avenatti, who said he has “credible information” about more sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, told The Hill that he expects his new client will appear for an on-camera interview within the next 48 hours.
He said he does not know which media outlet she will appear on: “We have not finalized the details.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Showtime that she doesn’t believe Brett Kavanaugh will overturn a landmark abortion ruling if he’s confirmed to the Supreme Court.
When asked about how she could potentially be “the vote” that leads to the landmark 1973 case being repealed, she replied: “Well first of all I do not believe he’s going to repeal Roe v. Wade.”
She added that she won’t formally make up her mind on Kavanaugh before hearing from Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of trying to rape her while they were both in high school.
“Republicans stood firm in their support of Judge Brett Kavanaugh accusing Democrats of character assassination and vowing to plow forward with his nomination in the wake of new sexual assault allegations over the weekend,” USA Today reports.
Kavanaugh continued to deny allegations of sexual assault: “There is now a frenzy to come up with something – anything – that will block this process and a vote on my confirmation from occurring. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination – if allowed to succeed – will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service.”
The Hill: GOP mounts counter-offensive on Kavanaugh.
“Democrats have signaled for months they’d put on whatever performance the far left special interests demanded and throw all the mud, all the mud they could manufacture. Even by the far left’s standards, this evil, evil smear campaign has hit a new low.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by Roll Call, reiterating his support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh despite sexual assault allegations.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will appear along with his wife on Fox News tonight, The Hill reports.
From a statement: “Judge Kavanaugh will address the allegations of sexual misconduct he is facing, including the new accusation from his former Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez who came forward over the weekend. He will also address the upcoming hearing on Thursday in which one of his accusers, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, will testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the effect these claims have had on his family.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the Senate “will hold an up-or-down vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, amid a committee investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against the nominee,” The Hill reports.
Said McConnell: “I want to make it perfectly clear: Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor. Up or down on the Senate floor. This fine nominee to the Supreme Court will receive a vote in the Senate in the near future.”
“He declined, after his floor speech, to say if Republicans would try to vote on Kavanaugh before Oct. 1—the previous timeline for when leadership wanted to get him confirmed.”
Gabriel Sherman: “For all the morning’s madness, there may have been an underlying logic. Over the weekend, as Brett Kavanaugh’s prospects appeared increasingly imperiled, Trump faced two tactical options, both of them fraught. One was to cut Kavanaugh loose. But he was also looking for ways to dramatically shift the news cycle away from his embattled Supreme Court nominee. According to a source briefed on Trump’s thinking, Trump decided that firing Rosenstein would knock Kavanaugh out of the news, potentially saving his nomination and Republicans’ chances for keeping the Senate… The leak about Rosenstein’s resignation could have been the result, and it certainly had the desired effect of driving Kavanaugh out of the news for a few hours.”
“The confusion surrounding Rosenstein’s tenure may not give Kavanaugh a reprieve. In public, Trump continues to voice support for his embattled Supreme Court nominee… But in private, Trump is growing increasingly frustrated by being mired in a deteriorating political situation beyond his control. On Monday morning, a Republican briefed on Trump’s thinking said the president has been considering pulling Kavanaugh’s nomination.”
“According to the source, Trump allies are imploring him to cut Kavanaugh loose for the sake of saving Republicans’ electoral chances in the midterms.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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