President Donald Trump is right. The recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing involving his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — accused of sexual assault that allegedly happened in the 1980s by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine — could be a blessing in disguise.
It is important to stress that such hearing on September 27 was NOT a trial of either Kavanaugh nor of Dr. Ford. It was a hearing that was supposed to help the members of the committee in making the consequential decision of endorsing Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor.
Despite criticisms on how 90 percent of Kavanaugh’s work had not been made public for scrutiny, despite of three allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against him by three women who came forward and made public their accusations under oath, Trump and the Republicans pushed forward to proceed with the vote on his nomination.
But as public protests and opposition against the confirmation vote mounted, the Senate Leadership decided to conduct the hearing on September 27, while maintaining that they would still continue with the vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination the day after, as originally urgently scheduled.
It took a long, excruciatingly painful nine-hour hearing where both Dr. Ford and Kavanaugh were both given the chance to present their testimonies, one after the other. Dr. Ford was 100 percent sure that it was Kavanaugh who sexually assaulted her that night in a party, as Kavanaugh himself said he was 100 percent sure it was not him, and that he had never sexually assaulted anyone in his life.
The difference, however, was that Dr. Ford had called for an FBI investigation on her allegations, and that she had nothing to gain in coming forward, and got everything to lose. She said she told her story because she believes it is her civic duty to let the American people know material information about this man who is now about to be voted on to sit in the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, what was at stake for Kavanaugh was a powerful lifetime position in the nation’s highest court. He said he was not guilty and yet he had repeatedly resisted any supplemental FBI investigation, a position supported by Trump and the Republicans in Congress.
Thankfully on Friday, September 28, Republican Senator Jeff Flake — one of the members of the committee — rocked the boat. After hearing the testimonies of both Dr. Ford and Kavanaugh, then after being confronted by two women rape survivors after he said yes he would vote YES to confirm Kavanaugh, the senator had a sleepless night.
Flake changed his vote to a NO, but said he would support a vote ONLY if the Senate delays the full vote by a week so that the FBI could do an investigation that Dr. Ford deserved, just as the Democrats in the committee have been asking all along. His call for due diligence had been supported by his Republican colleagues in the committee, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
Trump and the Republican leadership in the Senate endorsed the supplemental FBI investigations, but questions and criticisms had been raised about the limit and scope of the investigation which may get in the way to unearthing the truth and may cover up material information about growing concerns about Kavanaugh’s fitness to sit in the Supreme Court.
The American people demanded to know the truth not only about the sexual assault alleged against him by the three women who came forward under oath. They also wanted to find out the veracity of Kavanaugh’s testimony that he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the sexual misconduct allegations and his testimony under oath about his drinking habits, behavior and problem.
Pending the results of the FBI investigation, the hearing on September 27 had revealed through his own actions even more reasons why Kavanaugh should NOT be confirmed to be Justice of the Supreme Court.
Sure he is well qualified based on his educational and professional sections of his resume. However, these are not the only attributes required of the job, and Kavanaugh failed immensely in these aspects.
Kavanaugh’s own words, demeanor and actions during the hearing have proven that he does NOT have the honesty and temperament that the lifetime position of Justice of the Supreme Court requires.
During the hearing, Kavanaugh’s belligerence, arrogance and disrespect were revealed when questioned and challenged about his fitness for the job. The Democratic senators in the committee, after all, were doing their job in asking hard questions during this job interview, and Kavasnaugh failed.
During the hearing he could not say YES to Democratic Senators who repeatedly questioned him if he would ask for more FBI investigations from Trump and the Senate leadership. Shouldn’t he be the one asking for and even supporting it because it would clear his name — IF he is indeed telling the truth in his testimony? What could he be hiding?
During the hearing, Kavanaugh made unfounded statements alleging this was part of a conspiracy lead by Democrats to put him down and to revenge on behalf of the Clintons. This partisan rhetoric already disqualified him because as a Justice of the Supreme Court, he is expected to set aside his own political and personal biases and emotions, and just make judgement based on the constitutionality of the issues before him.
During the hearing, Kavanaugh argued again and again that yes, he liked beer but that he has never drank to the point of being blacked out with no control over his behavior. However, after the hearing, several of his classmates in Yale, in high school, have came forward to dispute his claims.
His classmate and friend in Yale said in a statement:
“If he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences. It is truth that is at stake, and I believe that the ability to speak the truth, even when it does not reflect well upon oneself, is a paramount quality we seek in our nation’s most powerful judges.”
On July of 2018, the New York Times reported that Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell warned Trump against nominating Kavanaugh, saying that his lengthy paper trail would pose difficulties for his confirmation.
But Trump nominated him with urgency for one reason: Kavanugh has written in the past that no sitting president should be investigated while in office. Trump chose Kavanaugh because he thought he could use his vote to save him from the Russia probe.
NO to Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court. He poses a danger to the independence of the Supreme Court, supposedly a co-equal branch of government tasked to provide check and balance among the executive, legislative and judiciary branch of government.
With the leadership in Congress and the spineless members of the executive all controlled by Trump, NO to KAVANAUGH. He poses a threat to our democracy.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
You are a joke of a journalist. Doesn’t look like you’ve done any updates on your very biased reporting against Judge Kavanaugh. She (Ford) has been proven a liar (afraid to fly, didn’t coach or know anything about polygraphs, licensed psychiatrist, etc.). She has also resisted providing her therapy records after numerous requests. Why not Gel? Could it be these records don’t exist or are falsified? Perjury hearing in her future? What say you Gel? What about corroboration? All her witnesses have sworn to No knowledge of this incident. And your big query…what does she have to gain? Over a million dollars in go fund me accounts for one. And being the poster child puppet of the anti Trump, evil cabal that you’re a big loud part of, the DemocRATS!