| The nominee's accusations could mean a rocky hearing and midterms for the GOP. They also expose how how sexual assault claims are still minimized. |  |
| FROM WASHINGTON AND BEYOND | Wednesday, September 19 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | How do these senators move forward? As sexual assault claims swirl over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, lawmakers overseeing his confirmation face one political landmine after another. But as the claims force new hearings on Kavanaugh, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Republicans - men, all of them - may have more to lose. | | It doesn't help that Kavanaugh's nominator, President Donald Trump, bragged about groping women on tape. It helps less that Trump defended Kavanaugh Wednesday, reminding voters - suburban women, particularly - of his own past with women in what one GOP strategist called " a can't win situation." | | This is OnPolitics Today. | It's happening: 'Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender' | | Brett Kavanaugh's got jokes. At least he did in 2015, alluding to secrecy at the high school he attended when he allegedly pinned down a 15-year-old girl and groped her. "What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep," Kavanaugh said during a speech at Catholic University. "That's been a good thing for all of us, I think." A clip of the joke, tweeted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, spread online Wednesday. | | Meanwhile, Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford faces a chorus of doubt, exposing how sexual assault claims are minimized, even in the post-#MeToo age. It's a pattern so common, psychologists say, that it has an acronym: DARVO - or "Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender." | | Ford wants an FBI investigation before testifying. That looks unlikely, despite experts saying it would only take two days. Now Republicans who pushed for Ford to get a chance to testify have hinted their patience has limits . "If we don't hear from both sides on Monday, let's vote," Sen. Bob Corker said. | Trump drags Sessions: 'I don't have an attorney general. It's very sad.' | | If there was any doubt that Trump did not completely loathe Jeff Sessions as his attorney general, the president made it clear in a recent interview with Hill.TV. "I don't have an attorney general," Trump said in the Oval Office. "It's very sad." Trump's dissatisfaction with Sessions started two months into the job, when Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation tied to Trump's 2016 election. That resulted in Robert Mueller, the special counsel now breathing down the president's neck. But Trump's displeasure doesn't stop there. "I'm not happy at the border, I'm not happy with numerous things, not just this," he said. | Elsewhere in politics | | | | | | MOST SHARED USA TODAY ARTICLES | | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment