Democratic Senators Walk Out of Judiciary Committee Hearing in Protest

Immediately following the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to ignore democratic motions to subpoena Mark Judge and proceed with Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, four democratic senators walked out of the hearing room while chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IL) was speaking. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) all left the room in protest. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) then ripped into the committee’s handling of the hearing. “This was not about ensuring a fair process,” she said. “This was about doing the bare minimum.” Sen. Harris followed suit outside the hearing room, arguing that the process has been “pushing and pushing and ramming this thing through. Because they have the power, as opposed to the integrity, to say, ‘Let the American people know what’s about to happen.’” She added that “this is a failure of this body to do what is has always said it’s about: to be deliberative.”