Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee vetting the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, said the committee still planned to hold a vote on Kavanaugh's nomination Friday (Sept. 28).
That came in a brief press availability following Thursday's hearings.
His comment came before the Republicans planned to conference on the issue late Thursday but after an almost-nine-hour hearing, featuring Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of sexual assault, providing their respective, riveting, testimony.
Related: Kavanaugh Concedes to Past, Cringeworthy, Acts
It boiled down to his word vs. hers, with Democrats solidly behind Ford and Republicans abandoning their hired outside prosecutor mid-way during the afternoon questioning of Kavanaugh as the partisan gloves came off and Republican Senators took aim at their Democratic colleagues.
It boiled down to his word vs. hers, with Democrats solidly behind Ford and Republicans abandoning their hired outside prosecutor mid-way during the afternoon questioning of Kavanaugh as the partisan gloves came off and Republican Senators took aim at their Democratic colleagues.
Kavanaugh said the confirmation process was a national disgrace, and that Congress, specifically Democrats, had "turned advice and consent to seek and destroy."
President Donald Trump tweeted his support for Kavanaugh and called for that vote.
[embed]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1045444544068812800[/embed]
The Kavanaugh vote was scheduled by Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) earlier in the week, but was billed as a procedural necessity to schedule since the committee has to provide notice three days before holding such a hearing.
If the Republicans are still holding the vote it means they are pretty confident they have the votes to report it out of committee. But it is not clear whether they will have the votes for a full Senate confirmation, a vote that could come as early as next week.
“Chairman Grassley’s decision to urgently push forward with a committee vote less than 15 hours after testimony about sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh shows that Republicans are not taking sexual assault survivors seriously," said Vanita Gupta, president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "Republicans continue to make perfectly clear that no matter what credible information is presented to them, they have no interest in taking it into consideration. If they are to have any credibility going forward, Republicans must demand an impartial FBI background investigation into these allegations and it must happen immediately.”
