By Brendan Skwire, Raw Story —
Avisibly outraged Kamala Harris (D-CA) went into prosecutor mode as she eviscerated her Republican colleagues for ramming through Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation, saying the process was a sham and the FBI had been handcuffed by the White House.
“As the former attorney general of California, I have tremendous, tremendous respect for the sworn law enforcement officers at the FBI, and this should have been a search for the truth,” she said. “They should have been allowed to do their full job. But instead the White House did not allow it. This was not a search for the truth. Instead, this was about politics and raw power to push through an unfit nominee.”
Harris drew on her experience as prosecutor, shredding the Republican talking points about accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s failure to report the allegations 30 years prior.
“63% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police in our country,” she said. “Delayed reporting is normal.” Harris said she was unable to count the number of times prospective jurors on assault cases would be excused from serving, because of testimony that spoke to their own unreported claims.
Harris reminded the chamber that they weren’t investigating a crime, but trying to determine if Kavanaugh was fit to sit on the Court. The she slammed the Republicans for blocking any efforts to find out that truth, saying “we did not do her justice, we did not do the American people justice.”
“We were given one week to investigate. The Republicans said you’ll get one week, they threw out one week,” she spat bitterly. “And in less than one week, we are presented with paltry documents.”
She also slammed the White House, rattling of a list of failures and oversights, from refusing to allow the FBI to question Kavanaugh, two dozen witnesses to the events in question, and the more than 40 people acquainted with Kavanaugh who were not permitted to share their information.
“They did not interview Dr. Ford’s husband or a number of her friends who she told of the assault before –before– Kavanaugh’s nomination. They did not interview the former FBI special agent who conducted Dr. Ford’s polygraph. They did not interview Kavanaugh’s roommate at Yale who has contradicted Kavanaugh’s testimony,” she said.
And, what seemed to be a personal dig at the nominee himself, Harris said “They did not interview three of Kavanaugh’s friends from Yale who wrote in The Washington Post just last night, “Brett also belonged to a Yale senior secret society called truth and courage. we believe that Brett neither tells the former nor embodies the latter’. They did not interview Dr. Ford at all.”
Harris turned to the chamber, and before yielding her time said “Every American is entitled to the benefit of the doubt, but nobody is entitled to a seat on the United States Supreme Court.
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Senator Kamala Harris delivers blistering rebuke to GOP as Kavanaugh confirmation debate opens
