2018年9月28日 星期五

Brett Kavanaugh 聽證會及其他,很耐人思考:「百分之百確定」是不可能的



「百分之百確定,」她說。 「百分之百確定,」他說。
週四,克莉絲汀·布萊西·福特和卡瓦諾法官相繼坐在同一把椅子上。他們之間作證的間隔不到一小時,但現實的鴻溝如此之巨大,兩人對於少年時到底發生了什麼相互矛盾的說法無法得到調和。
這個電視上的戲劇場面令千百萬美國人又是震驚,又是驚駭。這兩個百分之百確定的現實代表了一個被分割成更廣泛現實的社會,它們如此迥異、如此互不相容,讓人覺得好像是同一個國境內共存的兩個國家。



Brett Kavanaugh "lied on that Fox News interview" about who he was, a former Yale classmate said, adding that the person he professed to be wasn't the one she knew.


ABCNEWS.GO.COM
Kavanaugh 'lied' in interview, drank to excess, classmate from Yale says

美國的Brett Kavanaugh聽證很耐人思考:Brett Kavanaugh's testimony戲劇表現

"Kavanaugh’s nomination may, or may not, survive the Senate hearing on Thursday. But his credibility, testifying under oath for a lifetime job on the highest court in the land, did not."
There was, in Brett Kavanaugh’s Trumpian performance, not even a hint of the composure one would think a potential Supreme Court Justice would have carefully cultivated.

In an era of bile and tribalisation, Christine Blasey Ford displayed the calm temperament of a judge while the supreme court nominee lashed out
戲劇聽證。

昨天太晚了,沒聽到這一幕:"在向參議院小組令人動容的作證中,克莉絲汀·貝絲利·福特(Christine Blasey Ford)博士對於最高法院提名人布拉特·卡瓦諾(Brett Kavanaugh)法官曾在高中時性侵自己的說法,做出了詳細描述。
這場聽證會有時候感覺像是一場審判,庭上有一名檢察官事無鉅細地代表共和黨參議員們仔細詢問貝絲利博士。貝絲利博士毫不動搖,堅稱自己的記憶清晰、誠實。 “我很獨立,不是任何人的棋子,”她表示。
卡瓦諾含著淚水,憤怒地否認了這些指控,並且指責民主黨人帶著惡意行事:“你們用搜查和毀滅代替了建議和同意。”"


-2:06

 

132,001 次觀看
ABC News
1 小時
Catch up on the biggest moments from Brett Kavanaugh's testimony:
"This is a circus."
"This has destroyed my family."
“I swear today under oath…I am innocent.”

接二連三的美國女權集團鬥Trump 總統:Third Kavanaugh accuser

USA TODAY
Michael Avenatti says the woman, whom he represents, has multiple security clearances and will “literally risk her life’’ by coming forward.

 

USATODAY.COM

Third Kavanaugh accuser, a former U.S. State and Mint employee, is '100 percent credible,' Avenatti says


****
9.28


Trump Agrees to Open ‘Limited’ F.B.I. Investigation Into Accusations Against Kavanaugh


WASHINGTON — President Trump, ceding to a request from Senate Republican leaders facing an insurrection in their ranks, ordered the F.B.I. on Friday to reopen a background investigation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, his nominee to the Supreme Court, and examine the allegations of sexual assault that have been made against him.

The announcement plunged Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination into new turmoil after a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill, and will delay, by as much as a week, a final confirmation vote. It came only 24 hours after the judge and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, each gave emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that led many Republicans to think Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation was inevitable.

Republican leaders had little choice but to ask Mr. Trump to order the F.B.I. inquiry after Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, first announced he was supporting Judge Kavanaugh, and then, in a stunning reversal, said he would not vote to confirm him without an F.B.I. investigation first. With a handful of allies in a closely divided Senate, Mr. Flake, a conservative but an outspoken critic of the president, could determine the future of the Kavanaugh nomination, and that gave him leverage over Senate Republicans as well as the president.

“We ought to do what we can to make sure we do all due diligence with a nomination this important,” Mr. Flake told his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee after extracting a promise from Republican leaders to delay the final vote on the nomination until after the F.B.I. investigation. “This country is being ripped apart here.”




Mr. Trump, who had hoped Judge Kavanaugh would be sworn in by the time the Supreme Court opens its next term on Monday, said he was ordering the F.B.I. to conduct what he called a “supplemental” investigation that he said “must be limited in scope and completed in less than a week,” as the Republican Senate leadership had asked for.
ImageSenators on the Judiciary Committee gathered Friday to discuss Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.CreditErin Schaff for The New York Times


The F.B.I. has already completed a background check on Mr. Kavanaugh, and it is unclear what the parameters of the new inquiry would be. But according to a person familiar with the matter, the allegations made by Deborah Ramirez, a former Yale classmate of Judge Kavanaugh’s, will be investigated along with those made by Dr. Blasey.

Judge Kavanaugh said in a statement on Friday that he would continue to cooperate with investigators to clear his name. Debra S. Katz, a lawyer for Dr. Blasey, said her client welcomed the development but not the “artificial limits” imposed by senators. Mark Judge, a friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s identified by Dr. Blasey and another accuser at the scene of the episodes, said through a lawyer that he would cooperate with investigators.

The delay cast a cloud over what Republicans expected to be a triumphant day, but they still had reason to be optimistic: Despite adamant Democratic opposition, they were able to muscle the nomination through the Judiciary Committee with an 11-to-10 vote and send it to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.



[Watch: Mr. Flake is confronted by sexual assault survivors.]

Mr. Flake had already announced hisintention to vote in favor of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Friday morning when, on his way to the committee meeting room, he was confronted by protesters who tearfully told him that they had been sexually assaulted. Then, after the committee chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, set a 1:30 p.m. vote, he began to waver, and retreated into an anteroom with colleagues of both parties.

After nearly an hour of hushed conversations, as well as calls to law enforcement officials and other undecided Republicans, Mr. Flake emerged to ask for an investigation that would be “limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there,” siding with Democrats who have repeatedly requested an inquiry.

With that stipulation, the committee quickly voted along party lines to recommend to the full Senate that Judge Kavanaugh be confirmed.


A spotlight on the people reshaping our politics. A conversation with voters across the country. And a guiding hand through the endless news cycle, telling you what you really need to know.


1:39‘Don’t Look Away From Me’: Sexual Assault Survivors Challenge FlakeSenator Jeff Flake initially announced his support for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, leading to protests in the Capitol over the sexual assault accusations against the judge. Mr. Flake later proposed a shift in course.Published OnSept. 28, 2018CreditCreditImage by Reuters


After the vote, the panel’s Republican members, looking somber, streamed into the Capitol suite of Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader. Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, voiced the frustration shared by other Republicans on the committee: More accusations — false ones, they said — were all but certain to surface, he said, according to a senior Republican official familiar with the conversation. And with Democrats bent on opposing Judge Kavanaugh, there would be no tangible benefit from an investigation.

But holding only the narrowest of majorities, 51 to 49, Mr. McConnell had little choice but to agree.

Mr. Grassley put on a good face for reporters after the meeting, saying it had been “a good day today by moving the nominee.”


Even before an investigation was reopened, it appeared that Republican fears could be founded. Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for one of the accusers, announced Friday on Twitter that Julie Swetnick, one of his clients, would tell her story “directly to the American people” this weekend because Republicans have not allowed her to testify under oath.d insisted for days that no F.B.I. investigation was necessary said on Friday that they were confident the F.B.I. could work quickly and that Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination would go forward.


“I’ve never felt better about it, quite frankly,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, citing Judge Kavanaugh’s performance on Thursday.
Image
Judge Kavanaugh testifying Thursday.CreditGabriella Demczuk for The New York Times


The bureau has looked at Judge Kavanaugh six times in the past, but it has never investigated the specific accusations raised in recent weeks.

The president alluded to those previous investigations on Friday night in a tweet, saying that he had “Just started, tonight, our 7th FBI investigation,” and declaring that Judge Kavanaugh would “someday be recognized” as a great Supreme Court justice.


Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump said he found Dr. Blasey’s testimony credible and “very compelling, and she looks like a very fine woman to me.” He had no message for the senators considering the nomination. “They have to do what they think is right and be comfortable with themselves,” he said.

After days of pleading for an F.B.I. investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct raised by Dr. Blasey and Ms. Ramirez, as well as by a third woman, Julie Swetnick, whom knew Judge Kavanaugh when he was in high school, Democrats said they were pleased by the president’s announcement.

“What it comes down to is the Senate always reminds you, in these critical moments, that one or two senators can make a difference,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and a member of the Judiciary Committee. “And in this situation, Senator Flake realized that something was important to him, and if he put his vote on the line, he could get a result.”

[Four key takeaways from the hearing.]

But elsewhere, passions were running high. Anti-Kavanaugh protesters roamed the halls of the Senate, and there was a heavy police presence. More than two dozen Democratic women — and a handful of men — from the House of Representatives marched arm in arm to the committee’s hearing room, mimicking a similar march during the 1991 confirmation hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas.


After Kavanaugh’s Testimony, Three Inconsistencies the F.B.I. Investigation Could Address

The Senate testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, the man she alleges assaulted her while they were in high school, revealed several details in their stories that do not match up.Sept. 28, 2018



Inside the room, in a repeat of Thursday, emotions were raw, even by the standards of a highly partisan Senate. Mr. Graham, a former military prosecutor whose angry outburst on Thursday made headlines, delivered a blistering encore.

“This has been about delay and destruction, and if we reward this, it is the end of good people wanting to be judges,” Mr. Graham said. “It is the end of any concept of the rule of law. It’s the beginning of a process that will tear this country apart.”


Democrats on the panel pointedly accused Republicans of a cover-up — and mocked Republicans’ assertions that they had been respectful to Dr. Blasey, who also goes by her married name, Ford.

“I don’t want to hear about respect for Dr. Ford when we’re not giving her the respect of having an investigation,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota.

That animosity seemed to dissipate after the last-minute wrangling with Mr. Flake.

Mr. Flake had given few hints in recent days about how he would vote. He pushed hard behind the scenes for Thursday’s hearing, telling party leaders he could not vote yes without hearing from Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh. But his public remarks had primarily focused on the dignity that had been stripped from the nomination process, and he declined to question Judge Kavanaugh on Thursday, using his brief remarks in the hearing room to chastise colleagues for their maximalist positions.

“There is doubt,” Mr. Flake said. “We’ll never move beyond that.”

Behind the scenes, the White House and the Judiciary Committee Republicans were working Friday to reassure wavering senators allied with Mr. Flake. They were increasingly confident that they would have the votes of Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, one of a number Democratic incumbents running for re-election in November.

One Democrat facing a difficult re-election battle, Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana, announced Friday that he would vote against Judge Kavanaugh, saying that he would “gladly welcome the opportunity to work with President Trump on a new nominee.”



Catie Edmondson, Michael S. Schmidt and Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting.

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