Something very strange is going on inside the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it could well sink the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be the next associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the official Twitter account for the judiciary committee (which is controlled by Republicans), posted two tweets:
As part of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to #SCOTUS, the FBI conducted its SIXTH full-field background investigation of Judge Kavanaugh since 1993. As part of these 6 prior FBI investigations, the FBI interviewed nearly 150 different people who know Judge Kavanaugh personally. 1/2
— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) October 2, 2018
Nowhere in any of these six FBI reports, which the committee has reviewed on a bipartisan basis, was there ever a whiff of ANY issue – at all – related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse. 2/2
— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) October 2, 2018
But a day later, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who serves on the judiciary committee, responded to the two earlier tweets with this somewhat cryptic reply:
This tweet is not accurate. Committee Republicans must correct it. See our letter here: https://t.co/trJ9ymDjee https://t.co/cCVpAwCzEI
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) October 3, 2018
The letter referenced in Senator Durbin’s tweet is worth your time to read, if only because it contains this very telling line:
“Each of us reviewed the confidential background investigation of Judge Kavanaugh before the hearing. While we are limited in what we can say about this background investigation in a public setting, we are compelled to state for the record that there is information in the second post that is not accurate.”
In other words, Durbin is alleging that in at least one of the previous FBI investigations, some information DID come to light regarding “inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse,” but it’s not being allowed out for public consumption because it might incriminate Judge Kavanaugh.
On Friday, debate on the Kavanaugh nomination will take place in the Senate, with a vote to follow on Saturday. So there’s still plenty of time for this GOP con job to self-destruct.
Each of us needs to get busy calling our senators. You can do that by calling the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and telling the operator what state you live in.
And each of us also needs to vote on November 6. If you aren’t sure whether or not you’re registered, or you want to register or even wish to request an absentee ballot, go to Vote.org and follow the directions on the website.
Brett Kavanaugh isn’t a Supreme Court justice just yet, and the next 48 hours are crucial to making sure he never gets seated on the highest court in the nation.