Senate Republicans late Thursday ditched their hired prosecutor and took over the direct questioning Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at a hearing to air decades old allegations about a sexual assault.
After relying on Rachel Mitchell, a veteran sex crimes prosecutor, for a couple of rounds of questioning, Republicans appeared to drop her.
Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee of Utah excoriated Democrats for their lines of questioning, which included delving into Kavanaugh’s drinking and high school yearbook entries.
Hatch called to proceedings “a national disgrace” that was worse than the contentious confirmation hearings for Robert Bork and Justice Clarence Thomas.
“Immaturity does not equal criminality,” Hatch said, accusing Democrats of wanting to “tear down this man at any cost.”
The tone changed significantly from the one set by Mitchell, who used her time to carefully question Kavanaugh about his calendar from 1982 and to force him to answer awkwardly about this history of drinking.
Lee made statements about why Democrats should stop asking Kavanaugh repeatedly to request the FBI to investigate him.
Sasse pointed out that Democrats raised the allegation after the confirmation process was largely completed and after it could have been probed outside public scrutiny.
“We could have had this conversation in private not in a way that would do crap to his family,” Sasse said.
