WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was “stunned” by Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s temperament before the Senate Judiciary Committee, including his personal inquisition about her…
WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was “stunned” by Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s temperament before the Senate Judiciary Committee, including his personal inquisition about her drinking habits.
“I was really stunned by how he acted at that hearing,” Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This is basically a job interview for the highest court of the land.”
Kavanaugh raged against Democratic senators Thursday and accused them of trying to derail his nomination with false sexual assault allegations as “revenge” for Hillary Clinton losing the White House in 2016.
A seething Kavanaugh repeatedly refused to answer Democrats’ questions and instead took to grilling the senators himself. In one memorable exchange, Klobuchar asked whether Kavanaugh ever got so drunk he couldn’t remember what happened the night before.
“You’re asking about a blackout,” the judge responded. “I don’t know, have you?”
After a break, Kavanaugh later apologized to Klobuchar, whose dad is a recovering alcoholic.
Kavanaugh has vehemently denied he sexually assaulted anyone – ever. While Christine Blasey Ford told the Judiciary Committee she’s “100 percent” positive Kavanaugh attempted to rape her while he was intoxicated during a party in high school.
In her questioning, Klobuchar was probing whether Kavanaugh had a habit of getting so belligerent he could have forgotten his actions. Kavanaugh said he wanted to know if the senator had ever blacked out.
“I have no drinking problem,” Klobuchar responded.
“Nor do I,” Kavanaugh said.
Kavanaugh’s open contempt for Democrats throughout the hearing and emotional testimony raised new questions among liberals on whether the judge has the judicial temperament to fairly decide cases.
Sen. Mazie Hirono said Kavanaugh may have to recuse himself from future cases involving Democrats because “he has totally showed himself…to be a political operative and the partisan operative that he has been,” the Hawaii Democrat told ABC’s “This Week.” “The veil is revealed.”
Hirono called it so “bizarre” Kavanaugh would accuse Democrats of a “conspiracy to do him in.”
“Everyone acknowledges, including Judge Kavanaugh, that Dr. Ford is not being politically motivated,” Hirono said.
