Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unloaded on Democrats on Monday afternoon over their latest efforts to slam the reputation of sitting Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh — saying in no uncertain terms that this “is not normal political behavior.”
“Senate Democrats [are] reopening the sad and embarrassing chapter that they wrote last September,” McConnell declared.
He was talking in part about the highly controversial — and subsequently revised — piece in The New York Times over the weekend in which a salacious and uncorroborated allegation against Kavanaugh was presented. The Times also deleted a tweet about the piece and apologized for it.
The allegation concerns sexual misconduct that supposedly occurred decades ago “at a drunken party.” The article by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly was adapted from their forthcoming book.
At the center of this latest salacious allegation is a woman who apparently was not interviewed by The Times authors — and who also said she does even recall the alleged incident in question.
Related: New York Times Revises Its Horribly Sourced Original Story about Brett Kavanaugh
It was a then-fellow Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s who brought up the accusations — a man named Max Stier, who also was part of former President Bill Clinton’s defense team during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
“The book notes, quietly, that the woman Max Stier named as having been supposedly victimized by Kavanaugh and friends denies any memory of the alleged event,” noted Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist in a tweet. “Seems, I don’t know, significant.”
Some of the top 2020 Democrats running for the nomination against President Donald Trump next year used the original Times story to demand Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
McConnell derided what he called a familiar “pattern” in regard to the Kavanaugh allegations: “Shoot first, correct the facts later,” he said, as Fox News also noted.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, McConnell said the Democrats are “rushing to exploit” the new accusations and “hysterically” demanding that Kavanaugh be removed from the bench.
Despite a lack of any corroborating evidence, leading Democrats tried to grab onto yet another unsubstantiated allegation against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. We all remember this pattern from last time around: Shoot first and correct the facts later.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 16, 2019
"This is not normal political behavior. These are the actions of a political party whose agenda is so alien to the Constitution that they feel threatened by fair and faithful judges."@SenateMajLdr criticizes Democrats for seizing on new allegations against Justice Kavanaugh. pic.twitter.com/bbFkC9uYka
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 16, 2019
He said the Senate was right to confirm Kavanaugh last year — which it did in early October after a bruising and public confirmation battle throughout the late summer of 2018.
McConnell also accused Democrats of again deploying the “politics of personal destruction.”
“It’s just as transparent and self-serving today,” McConnell said.
He criticized “several Senate Democrats for a recent brief that urged the Supreme Court to ‘heal itself’ or face restructuring — which was widely seen as a threat of court-packing,” as Fox News noted.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the Senate Judiciary Committee chair who strongly defended Kavanaugh last year, also said the recent attacks by the Democrats are “beyond the pale.”
“My heart goes out to Justice Kavanaugh’s family for being forced to endure this ridiculous treatment once again,” he tweeted.
Here’s his tweet.
The latest attacks leveled against Brett Kavanaugh are beyond the pale.
My heart goes out to Justice Kavanaugh’s family for being forced to endure this ridiculous treatment once again.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 16, 2019
Here is other reaction as well — and some additional information.
Whoa. Apparently @rpogrebin herself — author of the now widely ridiculed article and Kavanaugh book — wrote the offensive NYT tweet that was deleted on Saturday night. https://t.co/Ks1JflrfXP
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 16, 2019
Democrats are rushing to impeach Brett Kavanaugh over a debunked, false allegation.
Why didn't they rush to impeach Eric Holder when he ran guns to cartels?
Why not Hillary Clinton for the Benghazi scandal?
Why not Ted Kennedy when he literally killed a girl?
?
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 16, 2019
I think of Kavanaugh’s daughters and what they have to experience due to journalistic assassins at the @nytimes. Reporters and editors there and all over media now believe the end (defeating Trump) always justifies the means.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) September 16, 2019
“I was told behind the scenes that certain things could spread about me if I didn't comply.”
—Christine Blasey Ford’s friend Leland Keyser (who now says she doubts Ford’s story on Kavanaugh)Here’s a small sampling of the machinations by Ford’s friends.https://t.co/FQxVc7Td0p pic.twitter.com/TBJsHypdYj
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) September 16, 2019
House Judiciary chair says says the committee is too busy 'impeaching the president' to consider investigating Brett Kavanaugh https://t.co/aylK7HHATP
— POLITICO (@politico) September 16, 2019
Went on @foxandfriends this morning to talk about the shameful attempts to reignite baseless smears about Kavanaugh, and how this has become the go-to liberal strategy trying to intimidate nominees and even sitting justices.https://t.co/Kzy7sZHsMw
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) September 16, 2019
Opinion: Calls to impeach Kavanaugh are the latest examples of hollow hyperpartisanship https://t.co/LAymaSl0e6
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 16, 2019
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