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Connecticut's elected Democrats on Thursday said testimony by Christine Blasey Ford against U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh was credible and potentially fatal to his confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who sits on the 21-member Senate Judiciary Committee, said he thinks more witnesses should be called. The committee is comprised of 11 male Republicans and 10 Democrats -- including four women.
Shortly before the Senate committee voted, 11-10, in favor of advancing Kavanaugh's confirmation to a full Senate floor vote, Blumenthal told Washington, DC, reporters: "All of America is watching the United States Senate today and they should be deeply disturbed, embarrassed, ashamed of supposedly the world’s greatest deliberative body sinking to a low that denies sex assault survivors the right to be heard."
A deal apparently was brokered within the GOP majority on Friday afternoon to delay the full Senate vote by one week and allow an FBI investigation..
"We should hear what these witnesses have to say for themselves publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what they remember of the Summer of 1982. In their own words. Right now we are missing this critical information," Blumenthal wrote on Twitter.
"One of the four witnesses Judge Kavanaugh kept on referring to as exonerating, Leland Keyser, has said publicly that she believes Dr. Blasey Ford,"" Blumenthal wrote. "Judge Kavanaugh kept repeating that four witnesses swore that Dr. Blasey Ford’s account 'did not happen.' Not true. All we have are statements from their lawyers claiming that they have no knowledge of the night in question. That is not the same thing as it 'did not happen.'”
After Forrd's three hours of questioning, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted: "I've been watching the hearing from my office. I'm amazed at how composed, thoughtful, and credible Dr. Ford has been under the circumstances. It's just unthinkable that after this, Republicans would rush a vote forward without a full investigation."
Blumenthal added: "Republicans’ desperate attempt to distract from Dr. Blasey Ford’s powerful testimony by blaming Democrats is refuted by her own words: 'All sexual assault victims should be able to decide for themselves whether their private experience is made public.'"
All along, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee -- including Blumenthal -- have asked for an FBI investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh -- a request that has been denied by the committee's GOP majority.
In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Ford answered questions for hours about her claims that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school ー accusations that both of Connecticut's U.S. senators agreed appear to be credible.
Earlier on Thursday, Sept. 27, Sen. Murphy tweeted: "There is way too much information that has come out in the last twenty four hours to proceed today. There is no rush. Let’s postpone this hearing, take some time to settle down, and come up with a plan to properly investigate all of it."
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