Kennedy says Kavanaugh vote will continue as planned on Thursday

Sen. John Kennedy on Sunday predicted that a Judiciary Committee vote to advance Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would proceed as planned on Thursday, despite a new allegation of sexual misconduct against the judge — and criticized Democrats for a chaotic confirmation process. “So far, it’s pretty much been an intergalactic freak show,” the Louisiana Republican said on “Fox News Sunday,” while offering that Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had done “the best he could” to make Kavanaugh’s raucous confirmation hearings run smoothly. Kennedy slammed the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, for sitting on accusations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh dating back to when he was in high school, which Kennedy said hadn't been flagged in any of the judge's six FBI background checks. Regardless, Kennedy said that his committee will likely vote to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the floor on Thursday as planned. “I think the vote will be 11-10 … a straight party-line vote,” Kennedy said. And despite staunch opposition from Democrats, he predicted that once the nomination comes up for a vote in the full chamber, “every Republican will vote for Judge Kavanaugh, [and] I think at least two and probably more Democrats will.” “No fair-minded American can believe that he’s not qualified — he went to Yale law school, he didn’t get his law degree from Costco. He has a total command of Supreme Court precedent, I think he’s a legal rock star,” Kennedy said. The senator said he was “embarrassed by the whole process,” which has seen confirmation hearings with near-constant interruptions by protesters. And throughout the process, committee Democrats have accused Republicans of hiding documents and declared they were breaking committee rules to release certain documents only for it to be revealed that the documents in question had been approved for release. Kennedy turned the secrecy accusation back on Democrats regarding the misconduct allegation, claiming that Republicans had not been allowed to see the accusatory letter from the woman, who wished to remain unidentified. "This new allegation, I don’t know what our Democratic friends expect us to do," he said. "Who are we gonna cross-examine? Senator Feinstein?” source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/16/kavanaugh-vote-thursday-kennedy-825776 #Headlines by: coprysko@politico.com (Caitlin Oprysko)

Original Post: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/16/kavanaugh-vote-thursday-kennedy-825776