Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and his family!
That’s what Donald Trump tweeted at five minutes to 11 ET on Tuesday evening and as it turns out, that was some sage advice.
Because when it comes to this SCOTUS hopeful, the only thing that’s going to save the nomination is prayer.
The Kavanaugh nomination is, frankly, a train wreck. Going into Wednesday, Kavanaugh faced allegations of sexual misconduct by two women, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and one Deborah Ramirez, whose account of an incident that purportedly occurred at a college drinking party was relayed in excruciating detail by The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow in a bombshell article on Sunday evening.
Read our full coverage of the Kavanaugh nomination
Dear Brett Kavanaugh: Do You Remember Deborah Ramirez? Cause She Remembers Your Penis
On Dianne Feinstein’s Handling Of Kavanaugh Nomination: Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The Game
Right To Choose: Republicans Need To Abort Brett Kavanaugh Nomination
Through it all, The Senate Judiciary Committee has been keen on pressing ahead, going so far as to ignore any semblance of decorum by scheduling a vote for Friday morning, just hours after tomorrow’s public hearing that will feature both Ford and Kavanaugh who will invariably give starkly divergent accounts of an episode that allegedly occurred while the two were in high school.
For his part, Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on Kavanaugh’s accusers. He criticized Ford in a tasteless Friday tweet and then, on Tuesday, the President said this about Ramirez:
Well on Wednesday, things got immeasurably worse when publicity seeker extraordinaire Michael Avenatti (who on Sunday evening teased new allegations against Trump’s SCOTUS nominee), released a sworn declaration from a third Kavanaugh accuser, one Julie Swetnick.
Swetnick, it is now alleged, was drugged and gang raped at a 1982 party at which Kavanaugh and Mark Judge were present.
Now that, right there, is a serious allegation.
As a reminder, Mark Judge isn’t keen on discussing any of these matters, but his memoirs mention a “Bart O’Kavanaugh†who apparently had a penchant for vomiting in vehicles and passing out drunk.
Here’s what Brett had to offer on Wednesday:
This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.
In case this needed to get any worse for Republicans, Sen. Jeff Merkley is now seeking an injunction in federal court designed to stop a final vote on Kavanaugh. Merkley claims that his constitutional duty to advise and assist on nominees is being willfully obstructed. Here’s what he told Politico:
The events of the past ten days have only underscored how critical it is that the Senate conduct a careful and comprehensive review of a nominee before giving its consent.
The unprecedented obstruction of the Senate’s advice and consent obligation is an assault on the separation of powers and a violation of the Constitution. The President and Mitch McConnell want to ram through this nomination come hell or high water, without real advice or informed consent by the Senate, but that’s just not how our Constitution works.
In case it isn’t clear enough, Trump and McConnell need to pull this nomination now. As in, right now. This second. Preferably, they’ll see if Elon Musk can build them a time machine real quick so they can pull Kavanaugh last week.
There is exactly no scenario in which this has a happy ending for anyone involved.
Deserves are repost:
Now that H posted the above I’ll add this to that, i.e., Swetnick is an eyewitness to Kavanaugh participating in what amounts to being an aider and abetter to Rape in the First Degree in Maryland. I have not been following the legal blogs so this may be old news, but there is no statute of limitations in Maryland for that crime.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/avenatti-client-kavanaugh-was-involved-in-gang-rapes?ref=home?ref=home
If you need a really good example to persuade your brain, try this one from attorney William R. Hall:
This was posted December 2013 about a “A 64-year-old [MD] Essex man [who] was recently charged with raping an individual 30 years ago man charged with a rape.”
https://www.williamrhall.com/Blog/2013/December/No-Statute-of-Limitations-for-Rape-in-Maryland.aspx
Turns out Hall’s math was off a bit, as the rape was committed 34 years earlier in 1979, when the defendant was 30.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-12-12/news/bs-md-ci-dundalk-1979-rape-charges-20131211_1_essex-man-alleged-sexual-abuse-dundalk
The county where the alleged gang rapes occurred is Montgomery County where State Attorney, John McCarthy (Democrat) has reigned supreme for more than a decade.
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/november-december-2017/bethesda-interview-john-Mccarthy/
It’s now his duty to investigate credible sworn statements setting forth a prima facie case of rape.
We’ll see.
if he had simply claimed that roe v wade was settled law…..he would have sailed through. its the third rail for scotus.
if djt cant get his guy in…..the momentum going into elections is not good for gop…..many many states do early voting and the contests will be decided more or less by oct 20.
Does he understand that forced anal counts both as sexual assault and losing his virginity?
Very interesting, Marty. Now I understand why Mark Judge did not want to testify, and went into hiding.
The GOP could have done a complete investigation, dumped Kavanaugh and got out of this situation mostly unmarked. They could have found someone else with equivalent conservative credentials for SCOTUS. Alternatively, they could have proven a vast left-wing conspiracy and kept Kavanaugh. Now, neither is possible, imo, and they have a huge mess on their hands.