Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused Democrats on Wednesday of being rude and unprofessional to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, by using his confirmation process as a way to launch political attacks against him.
McConnell lavished praise on Kavanaugh’s performance, but added, “Not everyone performed as admirably or as professionally last week.”
Democrats, he said, “repeatedly interrupted Chairman Grassley, behaved rudely toward the nominee and hauled out one dishonest partisan attack after another to try to distort his record and smear Judge Kavanaugh.”
Senate Democrats interrupted last week’s confirmation hearing several times and called on panel Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to postpone it. They also questioned the veracity of Kavanaugh’s answers by bringing up emails and other records from his lengthy paper trail, and released documents that were ordered to be viewed only by members of the committee.
Democrats argued that the GOP was withholding the public release of thousands of pages of documents related to Kavanaugh’s time working for President George W. Bush that they believe are critical to measuring his qualifications for the high court. But the GOP said Democrats are merely trying to derail a highly qualified candidate because he was appointed by President Trump.
“By trying to slime Judge Kavanaugh, the Democrats are only underscoring one of his most impressive skills: His widely acclaimed talent for thinking through all parties’ perspectives and engaging fairly with the full range of views regardless of his personal beliefs,” McConnell said.
Republicans believe Kavanaugh weathered the hearings largely untouched by Democratic attempts to weaken his chances of winning over the Senate GOP.
“At this point, dishonest attacks and half-truths are all that’s left for our colleagues, who made up their minds long ago they were going to oppose Judge Kavanaugh, no matter what,” McConnell said.
[Also read: Pressure growing on swing senators as Brett Kavanaugh vote nears]
