Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) have “disgraced” the U.S. Senate by how they’ve handled the 11th-hour sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova declared during an interview Thursday night on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

“This obviously is a fraudulent exercise in delay … This is not a joke. We’re talking about the constitutional confirmation process, which has been disgraced,” diGenova said to host Laura Ingraham. “Sen. Feinstein and [Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii] should be ashamed of themselves for their performances. They have traduced and besmirched the United States Senate.”

Christine Blasey Ford threw the final days of Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation process into disarray by publicly accusing him this past Sunday of sexually assaulting her some 36 years ago at a party in Maryland, when they were both teens in high school.

Although Feinstein (shown above left) received Ford’s allegations in July, she failed to air them — even anonymously — until just days before Kavanaugh’s since-canceled confirmation vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Hirono (D-Hawaii) slammed the GOP committee members on Tuesday, saying, “I expect the men in this country and the men in this committee … to demand an FBI investigation. But really, guess who’s perpetuating all of these kinds of actions? It’s the men in this country.”

“I just want to say to the men in this country, just shut up and step up. Do the right thing for a change,” Hirono said.

Kavanaugh (above right) denied Ford’s accusations “categorically and unequivocally,” claiming that he has “never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone.”

Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, blasted Feinstein for sitting on the allegations for weeks.

“She sat on it the whole time. The Senate Democrats had it for over a week. They didn’t do anything with it until they leaked it. They were the only ones who had it besides Dr. Ford. They’re the ones who leaked it and started this whole further circus,” Severino said on “The Ingraham Angle.”

“In 24 hours, [Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck] Grassley (R-Iowa) treated her with more respect than the Senate Democrats have in that prior entire six weeks, when they used her as a political football and just tried to tie these allegations for their maximum political benefit.”

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Grassley and other GOP committee members called upon Kavanaugh and Ford to testify Monday. Although Kavanaugh agreed to testify, Ford has flip-flopped. After initially insisting she was willing to cooperate and testify, Ford then declined to testify unless the FBI conducted an investigation.

But Ford’s lawyers opened the door Thursday to testifying before the committee on several conditions, including that she and Kavanaugh never be in the room at the same time, that Kavanaugh testify first and that no outside counsel — only committee members — be allowed to question her.

“This is an affront to the Senate. The entire process is a disgrace,” diGenova said. “To have a witness dictate the terms of their appearance to the United States Senate is an embarrassment to the Senate. And I hope they don’t capitulate.”

Byron York, the Washington Examiner’s chief political correspondent and a Fox News contributor, warned, “I think these demands — some of them — are not really going to sit well with the committee.”

“While Democrats have been out showboating and having rallies saying ‘We need investigations,’ Republican GOP senators have actually been investigating,” Severino said.

“I think the response of all of the members, certainly all of the Republicans, will be ‘Wait minute — whose committee is this?'” York added.

But Democratic lawyer Scott Bolden disagreed with the other three panelists, saying, “I don’t think they’re negotiating the terms to the Senate.”

“The bottom line is you can negotiate with the Senate,” Bolden added. “[The senators] haven’t agreed to her terms, but the lawyers are negotiating.”

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Bolden insisted the GOP “needs” Ford’s testimony because “they don’t want to go into the midterms with looking like they’re railroading this testimony.”

DiGenova argued that “this is being done for pure political purposes, for delay, to prevent a vote, to put it off until after the election.”

“The Democrats are entitled to do whatever they want, and they are in fact doing exactly that with no concern whatsoever for the Constitution or the Senate. Shame on them all,” diGenova added.

Although Ford is still calling for an FBI investigation, Severino lamented that the time has passed for that to occur.

“The way to do this confidentially would be to do the proper thing and hand it over for the FBI to look into while it was confidential,” Severino said, noting that “once it was leaked,” Ford’s story went beyond those conditions.

“While Democrats have been out showboating and having rallies saying ‘We need investigations,’ Republican GOP senators have actually been investigating,” Severino said.

“The proper procedure is this should be a bipartisan investigation. They’d rather showboat about it than do the investigation.”

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