Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., charged Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee with victimizing Christine Blasey Ford in their handling of her sexual misconduct allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“Ms. Ford was sympathetic and she was sincere. She’s been victimized by the Democrats in this process,” Cotton said during an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked to reflect on Ford’s appearance last week before the panel. “They betrayed her own request for confidentiality, they leaked this to the media at the last minute because they are on a search and destroy mission for Brett Kavanaugh.”
Ford initially informed her local congresswoman, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., of her accusation that the federal appeals court judge of sexually assaulted her in high school in July with a confidential letter.
Cotton said Sunday Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, will face an investigation over the letter’s leak to the media, while Ford’s lawyers will likely be probed by the District of Columbia Bar for not informing their client of the panel’s willingness to travel to her home state of California to hear her side of the story. Ford’s fear of flying was one of the reasons Thursday’s hearing was delayed.
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.@SenTomCotton says he found Judge Kavanaugh to be truthful in his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. pic.twitter.com/Ym7e7XDwns
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 30, 2018
Cotton also slapped down the possibility of the FBI probe uncovering evidence that Kavanaugh was not truthful in his testimony in areas unrelated to Ford’s claims.
“What are you talking about?” he asked host John Dickerson in a heated exchange. “I’m open to evaluating that evidence, but I strongly suspect that every statement that was made to the Judiciary Committee under penalty of perjury is the exact same statement that’s going to be made to the FBI.”
