Idaho senator votes to advance Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination
U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, voted Friday to advance Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to the Senate floor.
Crapo’s decision to back Kavanaugh came the day after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor, went before the Senate Judiciary Committee and accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegation.
“(W)e received hours and hours of testimony from two witnesses,” Crapo said before Friday’s Judiciary vote. “Both of them, frankly, made very strong cases. ...
“I came away believing that there had in fact been a sexual assault in Dr. Ford’s past. But, as has been stated, it was not entirely clear when, where and all of the circumstances. But there is no doubt in my mind that she truthfully testified. That she had been assaulted sexually in her past.
“I have to say I also listened very carefully to Judge Kavanaugh as he testified. And I felt that the testimony he gave was also honest. He gave a very strong testimony that he was not there.
“As I’ve said I don’t feel that the evidence shows that Judge Kavanaugh was there that night. I believed his testimony. I believed Dr. Ford’s testimony about the sexual assault. Because of that, I will vote ‘yes’ today to move the nomination forward to the floor.”
The committee has 21 members — 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Friday’s vote followed party lines.
Kavanaugh’s nomination now goes before the full Senate for a vote. But that won’t happen immediately: Arizona Republican and Judiciary member Sen. Jeff Flake successfully called for a week’s delay on floor consideration, to allow for further FBI investigation of Kavanaugh.
The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a statement supporting Flake’s effort, and President Donald J. Trump on Friday afternoon ordered the FBI to conduct the supplemental investigation within one week. The investigation will be “limited to current credible allegations against the nominee” and must be completed within one week.
No other comment from Crapo on the FBI work was immediately available Friday.
Crapo attended Thursday’s hearings with Ford and Kavanaugh. He asked Kavanaugh how the FBI performs nominee background checks, then described steps the Judiciary Committee took after Ford’s claim of sexual assault became public — comparing the committee’s ability to investigate with the FBI’s.
“And so we have conducted the investigation,” Crapo said. “The very kinds of things that my colleagues on the other side are asking that we tell the FBI to do, this committee has the authority to do it and this committee does it and this committee has done it.”
Crapo also had Kavanaugh confirm that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, did not mention Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s claim of sexual assault during a meeting she had with Kavanaugh Aug. 20. Ford originally asked for her allegations to remain confidential, and Feinstein has said she was attempting to honor that; Republicans have accused her of intentionally sitting on Ford’s accusation for political reasons.
Crapo was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998. He was named to the Judiciary Committee in January 2017.
CORRECTION: This article originally misstated Ford’s profession.
This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 11:40 AM.