House Democrats Must Investigate Kavanaugh, Explained
Donald Trump and Senate Republicans didn’t just break every rule in the book to get Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court last year. They shredded the book, doused it in fuel, lit it on fire, and reveled in the shadows of the flames.
By Katie O’Connor, Demand Justice Counsel
Republicans only allowed the American people to see a fraction of the records from Kavanaugh’s five years in the George W. Bush White House, and what we did see was hand-picked by Bush’s political lawyer — who also represents the likes of former Republican Party Chair Reince Priebus and Trump’s favorite white supremacist Steve Bannon. When Kavanaugh was credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women, the White House forced the FBI to conduct a sham investigation, allowing it to interview only ten people even though dozens of other witnesses came forward.
Because of this third-rate confirmation process, there are still serious questions about whether Kavanaugh is fit to be a Supreme Court Justice. But the good news is that House Democrats have the power to do something about it. Now that they’re in the majority, House Democrats can — and must — investigate last year’s rigged confirmation process and the many issues it left unsettled about Brett Kavanaugh.
For starters, there are the sexual assault allegations themselves. Sexual assault is an act of violence. It’s a serious crime that deserves a genuine and rigorous response, especially from the people we elect to represent us. Kavanaugh was credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women, but instead of seeking the truth about the allegations, Senate Republicans relied on an impossibly narrow FBI investigation and a laughably insincere hearing to declare Kavanaugh’s innocence and get their guy on the Supreme Court. House Democrats should now interview the dozens of witnesses who came forward with information about the allegations and get to the truth of whether Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez. They should also look into the role the White House and Senate Republicans played in staging what we all know was a politically-motivated bogus FBI investigation.
Then, there are the lies. So many lies! Kavanaugh lied about everything, repeatedly, in 2004 and 2006, at his confirmation hearings to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and in 2018, when he was under consideration to serve for life as a Supreme Court justice. He lied about issues large and small, from the meaning of the phrases “boofing” and “devil’s triangle” to whether he knew about the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program before the New York Times reported on it. He lied about his knowledge of documents that were stolen from a Democratic staffer’s computer. He lied about when he became aware of the sexual assault allegations that were being leveled against him, and he lied about what he did in response. House Democrats should now obtain and review Kavanaugh’s complete records to determine once and for all whether Kavanaugh committed perjury when he testified before the Senate.
And of course, there are the questionable finances. Kavanaugh reported a personal debt of between $60,000 and $200,000 in 2016, but that debt had magically disappeared by the time he filed his 2017 financial disclosure statement. The White House cut in to helpfully explain that Kavanaugh used the money — borrowed against three credit cards and a loan from his retirement savings — to buy baseball tickets, and settled the debt when his friends paid him back. This explanation defies logic, and House Democrats should demand answers about whether a now-Supreme Court justice actually took out a loan against his retirement account out of sheer love for America’s pastime. If not, they should get to the bottom of the source of the debt, and who helped Kavanaugh repay it.
House Democrats need to investigate Kavanaugh and the phony process that installed him on the Supreme Court, and they need to do it now. Kavanaugh is already making decisions that are impacting the lives of real Americans. He was the deciding vote to allow Trump’s hateful transgender military ban to go into effect, and he even ignored Supreme Court precedent by voting to allow a highly restrictive anti-abortion law to go into effect in Louisiana. And he’s only been on the Court for six months!
Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court thanks to a process that was rigged at every turn. And he was confirmed amid a sea of questions about his fitness to serve as a Supreme Court justice. We deserve to know the truth, and Democrats in the House are the only people who can help us get to it.
