Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) “promised” Monday that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh won’t be impeached following the revelation of another sexual misconduct allegation against him.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee vowed in a tweet that Kavanaugh would not be brought down by these “scurrilous accusations” — despite mounting calls for his impeachment.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), head of the House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that his committee is too tied up — at least for now — with “impeaching the president” to take immediate action concerning Kavanaugh.
“We have our hands full with impeaching the president right now, and that’s going to take up our limited resources and time for a while,” Nadler said on WNYC.
Though the House would have to pass articles of impeachment against Kavanaugh, the Senate would conduct the trial.
Democratic presidential contenders, lawmakers and former U.S. attorneys are calling for a new investigation into Kavanaugh and the FBI investigation into his background that was conducted for his confirmation hearings.
In addition, Democratic presidential candidates Julian Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have also called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment — as has Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Kavanaugh college classmate Max Stier told two New York Times journalists that he saw Kavanaugh with his pants down at a drunken Yale University party where friends pushed Kavanaugh’s penis into the hands of a female student, according to a report Saturday. The woman involved has said she did not recall the incident, but Stier said he was a witness, according to the Times.
The report was similar to an allegation lodged against Kavanaugh last year by former Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez. Stier informed senators and the FBI of the incident during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, but it was never investigated, the Times journalists reported.
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) told the FBI in a letter days before Kavanaugh was confirmed last year to contact Stier, who had “relevant information” concerning sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, but the FBI didn’t follow up. according to both CNN and The Washington Post.
At the time of Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, a California psychology reseacher, Christine Blasey Ford, publicly accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed and trying to take off her clothes at a party when they were both in high school. She testified about her experience before senators at the confirmation hearings.