Flake Demands One-Week Delay for FBI Probe Before Kavanaugh Vote By Bridget Johnson
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/flake-demands-one-week-delay-for-fbi-probe-before-kavanaugh-vote/
Huddling with committee Dems before the vote, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) ultimately declared that he would vote to pass Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but would not support a floor vote in the full Senate until the FBI investigates sexual assault allegations against the judge.
Flake originally said in a morning statement that he would vote to support Kavanaugh. “What I do know is that our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence. That is what binds us to the rule of law,” he said. “While some may argue that a different standard should apply regarding the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities, I believe that the constitution’s provisions of fairness and due process apply here as well.”
Then Flake was confronted at the Senate elevator by two survivors of sexual assault: Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher.
“You’re telling me my assault doesn’t matter,” Gallagher told Flake. “You’re letting people who do these things into power. That’s what you’re telling me when you vote for him. Don’t look away from me. Look at me and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me, that you will let people like that go into the highest court of the land and tell everyone what they can do to their bodies.”
“You’re allowing someone who is unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions … you are allowing someone to take responsibility for his own actions to sit in the highest court in the country and to have the role of repairing the harm that has been done in this country to many people,” Archila said.
Flake listened quietly to the pair and thanked the women before excusing himself to get to the hearing. CONTINUE AT SITE
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