SCATHING

Sen. Leahy Slams Committee as ‘Arm of the Trump White House’

“Any semblance of independence has disappeared,” the senator said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) slammed the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Friday decision to proceed with the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, arguing that the committee has become “an arm—a very weak arm of the Trump White House” in “a manic rush to fill a Supreme Court seat.” He added that “any semblance of independence has just disappeared,” and that “That is something historians will look at—and they’ll call it a turning point in the United States Senate.” He repeatedly brought up the Anita Hill hearings to support his claim, noting, “The Senate failed Anita Hill, who I believe. Today we’re doing even worse. The time of Anita Hill we had an FBI investigation. We had almost two dozen witnesses.” In this trial, he said, “[Republicans] do not want to hear women who have relevant evidence. Is that really what the Senate Judiciary Committee has lowered itself to?”

Leahy then went on to attack Brett Kavanaugh for his conduct the day prior: “Judge Kavanauagh’s defiance and evasiveness, his vehement partisan attacks on other members of this committee in the face of powerful incriminating testimony surpassed even that of Clarence Thomas at the time of Anita Hill.” He further added that Kavanaugh “does not have the veracity or the temperament” to be a Supreme Court Justice.