This pretty much. Only thing I differ on is that the FBI wouldn't put forward a conclusion, only interview transcripts. But yeah, I think the likelihood that anything significant comes out of that investigation is pretty small.
The upside for the Republicans is that it's out of the Judiciary Committee, so hearings are over. At this point they do whatever they need to do to shore up votes until McConnell decides to bring it to the floor.
To be honest, I try not to identify as a liberal, even though I share some ideological overlap. But there have been some conservatives that have had some less than stellar things to say about Ford. (It isn't as easy to search this entire thread, but here's a result of a couple minutes of browsing)
What gets investigated there are multiple claims? And likely yes to your question unless the investigation finds him to be an outright liar ( which would also be called perjury) whether or not the assault can be proven. This is a smart move, albeit as late as Feinstein’s maneuver was in a different way. Flake Is leaving and has nothing to risk by asking for the delay, and if the investigation is inconclusive the Republicans have better cover with women for midterms. If something is uncovered, it makes it look like They care about the truth.
Yep. It likely changes nothing, but it at least makes the process look more legitimate. Republicans: "One accuser? If he's a sexual predator, he'd have done it more than once. Why should we believe her?" Also Republicans: "Multiple women have come forward. This proves that they're just trying to smear him."
I think the agreement was to have the FBI investigate the pending allegations which would include the 2 other women. Any new allegations would not be included in the investigation - any new allegations would be subject to the Senate deciding whether or not to investigate.
And what a shock! The Republicans in Congress caved! Again! It’s over. Even if they wait one more week, then the Democrats in Congress wil say they still need more time. Again, it’s over. President Trump will now have to meet with his staff and others to come up with another selection for the Supreme Court. I have no doubt it’s already over for Kavanaugh.
Remember when all that mattered was whether or not a majority leader would use the nuclear option for a Supreme Court justice? Now we get to discuss farting and ralphing, and whether boof has a new, modern meaning. Ahh, the good old days
Disagree. It's reported to the floor now. Whenever McConnell thinks he has 50 votes, he'll bring it up.
This probably helps Kavanaugh. There were questions regarding whether the GOP had the votes. If the FBI uncovers nothing, it gives political cover to the undecided Senators to vote for him (including possibly Manchin and/or Heitkamp).
I never put a limit on the Democrats' ability to play dirty tricks, but unless something serious and verifiable is raised in the next week, Kavanaugh will be the next USSC justice. The FBI is going to ask people questions and it will still be a he said/she said affair. There isn't any new evidence that's been presented and it's highly unlikely the FBI will uncover anything.
"Agreement" is a rather loose word. McConnell will ask the FBI to do whatever he needs to do to secure a 50th vote. That probably means doing what Flake said he wanted (current allegations, very brief), but if McConnell thinks he can get a 50th vote without asking for anything, I suspect they won't ask for anything.
You call it caving, I call it a limited outbreak of common sense, a rare commodity nowadays in Washington DC. A whole week delay! Oh the horror. If the FBI does investigate and needs a little more than a week, l hope there's still enough common sense laying around to give it a few more days. At least then a vote after FBI input would have some legitimacy. A vote now after yesterday's circus would be a travesty. And I don't think that's very hard to understand.
Or in other words, all the whining about dems being political are in effect crocodile tears since when MM acts in a purely political fashion, not a *leader* taking a sworn allegation seriously, it's okay.
You are relying on the lawyerspeak in their sworn statements that exists to protect them from possible perjury to say their statement doesn’t support or corroborate Kavanaugh’s story. But ignore the fact that the witnesses weren’t confident enough to even weakly back Ford’s story of a party. If they would have definitively backed Kavanugh’s story, you wouldn’t have believed them because how could they be so sure after 35+ years. The sworn statements say that they have no idea what party she is talking about, and the statement from the girl friend says the girl friend never attended a party with Kavanaugh. How much more definitive can they be while also protecting from themselves from perjury? You are being disingenuous. And you want an open-ended investigation using a single allegation which is contradicted/not supported by any independent testimony. Guilty until proven innocent. If any of those 3 witnesses even hinted that Ford and Kavanaugh were at the party together, I would say investigate. But they didn’t even hint that. So what proof has she provided to tear apart his life?
