Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. said there is no way he would have approached Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding a limited FBI investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh if he were seeking re-election in the 2018 midterm elections.
“Not a chance,” Flake said during an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” when asked whether he would have talked to Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., among others, if he were not stepping down.
“There’s no value to reaching across the aisle. There’s no currency for that anymore. There’s no incentive,” Flake continued.
Flake told his Republican colleagues of the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday he would only be comfortable moving ahead with Kavanaugh’s nomination on the Senate floor if the FBI were to conduct a narrow probe into the sexual misconduct allegations leveled at the judge. The bureau has up to a week to complete a supplemental background investigation.
Flake said bipartisan outreach was necessary because the appearances of Kavanaugh and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, before the committee on Thursday sowed further political division on Capitol Hill and across the U.S.
“Just these last couple of days — the hearing itself, the aftermath of the hearing, watching pundits talk about it on cable TV, seeing the protesters outside, encountering them in the hall,” Flake said Friday to the Atlantic. “I told Chris [Coons], ‘Our country’s coming apart on this — and it can’t.'”
