Democratic Sen. Chris Coons said Republicans – like his friend and colleague Sen. Jeff Flake – who want another conservative on the U.S. Supreme Court should still be concerned about Brett Kavanaugh’s fitness.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Coons admitted that he and Flake would likely never see eye-to-eye on ideology, but that doesn’t mean all senators shouldn’t want a Supreme Court justice without the serious concerns Kavanaugh carries with him.
“Fitness and truthfulness sit on top of this underlying body of evidence of sexual assault allegations where, after I reviewed the evidence in front of the committee today, I still have unanswered questions,” the Democratic senator said.
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Sen. Coons laid out all the serious red flags about Brett Kavanaugh:
If I were to look at this and imagine how [Sen. Jeff Flake] might be looking at this, questions that we’d be bringing or I’d be bringing to the table wouldn’t be about ideology, because the president has lots of other credentialed conservatives from whom he can choose. I would be looking at questions of judicial temperament, given the very sharp and partisan scree that judge Kavanaugh unleashed on us on the judiciary committee. He was understandably angry, feeling he was unjustly accused. But there was a piece of his argument to us that I think crossed the line into partisanship. Former justice, former Republican and Justice John Paul Stevens withdrew his support from Kavanaugh today publicly because of the partisanship he showed in that defense. And then second, I’d be looking at questions of truthfulness. Whether or not in testimony to the committee, Judge Kavanaugh shaded the truth or was untruthful about a number of things. I frankly think when we get into details about words in his year yearbook and what they meant, we lose the average American. But when he made definitive statements to staff attorneys or to the committee …. then I think we have to have a conversation about truthfulness. So to me, fitness and truthfulness sit on top of this underlying body of evidence of sexual assault allegations where after I reviewed the evidence in front of the committee today, I still have unanswered questions.
Last week, Sens. Coons essentially convinced Flake to hit the brakes on the Kavanaugh nomination by calling for a last-minute FBI investigation into the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.
On the eve of a crucial vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, Coons seems to be making yet another appeal to the same part of Flake that convinced him to have a change of heart last week.
As Sen. Coons pointed out on Thursday, not only did the so-called FBI investigation turn out to be a massive sham, but it did nothing to eliminate the concerns that prompted it in the first place – or the growing questions about Kavanaugh’s temperament and hyperpartisanship.
It’s not clear whether Sen. Flake will vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s nomination over the next 48 hours, but Sen. Chris Coons appeared to make one last attempt on Thursday to convince his friend to reject Donald Trump’s unfit nominee.
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