Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., split with other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are refusing to meet with Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, and said interviewing the nominee is a “key part” of their jobs.
“I think a key part of doing our job as members of the Judiciary Committee is to go ahead and interview the nominee and go ahead and bring the strongest arguments we can to help the American people see what concerns we have about Judge Kavanaugh,” Coons told MSNBC on Friday.
Coons met with Kavanaugh for a one-on-one meeting Thursday. Several other Democrats on the panel, including ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have sat down with Trump’s Supreme Court nominee despite their stated opposition.
But Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., both Judiciary Committee members, said they would not meet with Kavanaugh. They made their announcements after Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was convicted of eight counts of tax and bank fraud and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime lawyer, pleaded guilty to eight counts, including two campaign finance charges related to hush-money payments made to two women who allegedly had an affair with the president.
Coons said he discussed with Kavanaugh the “sharp concerns” raised by Manafort’s conviction and Cohen’s guilty plea, as well as questions about his record on presidential accountability.
“The hearings are going to begin on Sept. 4, and I concluded that if I’m going to be ready to do my job, I needed to sit down with Judge Kavanaugh yesterday no matter how much I might object to the idea of our moving forward at this time without all the docs we should have,” Coons said.
The Delaware senator, however, objected to moving forward with Kavanaugh’s nomination until his full record has been released.
Senate Democrats have been calling for the National Archives to make public documents from Kavanaugh’s tenure as staff secretary for President George W. Bush, but Republicans have rejected their demands.
