Brett Kavanaugh as a Yale Law School student and now as a Supreme Court nominee. (Photos: White House/ScreenCap)
Brett Kavanaugh’s stunning testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee not only revealed his arrogance, imperiousness and lack of judicial temperament, but also was so riddled with lies he should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court on those grounds alone.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 election, compiled a list of Kavanaugh’s misstatements and outright lies over the course of the hearings, and published them on Twitter this morning.
It covers not only his statements about the alleged sexual assaults, but also his conduct as a Bush administration operative and statements in prior hearings in 2004 and 2006.
Lying to Congress, Sanders notes, is a federal crime.
Sanders demanded in a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley a full investigation of alleged perjury.
“The FBI must examine the veracity of Kavanaugh’s statements under oath in addition to the sexual assault allegations against him. Kavanaugh’s truthfulness with the Senate goes to the very heart of whether he should be confirmed to the court,” he wrote on Twitter.
Here are his most telling misstatements and untruths.
Kavanaugh was asked more than 100 times if he knew about files stolen by Republican staffers from Judiciary Committee Democrats. He said he knew nothing. Newly released emails show that these files were regularly shared with Kavanaugh while he was on the White House staff.
In 2006, Kavanaugh told Congress he didn’t know anything about the NSA warrantless wiretapping program prior to it being reported by The New York Times. This year an email revealed that while at the White House he might have been involved in some conversations about this program.
In 2004, Kavanaugh testified the nomination of William Pryor to the 11th Circuit “was not one that I worked on personally.” Documents now contradict that statement.
In 2006, Kavanaugh testified, “I was not involved and am not involved in the questions about the rules governing detention of combatants.” New evidence released as part of these confirmation hearing contradicts that assertion.
Kavanaugh testified before the committee that he did not believe polygraphs were reliable. In 2016 he wrote: “The Government has satisfactorily explained how polygraph examinations serve law enforcement purposes.”
His abrupt reversal was a clear attempt to undermine the positive results of Christine Blasey Ford’s polygraph test. Although polygraph tests results are not admissible as evidence in a court trail, they are routinely used by law enforcement as an investigative tool
Kavanaugh repeatedly told the committee he never drank to the point where he didn’t remember something. He also denied ever becoming aggressive when he drinks. There have been many reports from Kavanaugh’s high school, college and law school classmates that contradict this.
Kavanaugh testified he treated women “as friends and equals” and “with dignity and respect.” Numerous entries in his school yearbook would contradict this. It includes entries about one female friend who called the entry “horrible and hurtful.”
Brett Kavanaugh’s 1982 calendar contradicted his testimony and supported Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony. (Source: Senate Judiciary Committee)
Kavanaugh also made patently incredulous claims that the term “devil’s triangle” in his yearbook referred to a drinking game, when the expression is widely known to mean a sexual tryst between two men and a woman. He also said the term “boof” referred to flatuence, when its’ widely known to refer to sex.
Kavanaugh claimed that he and Ford “did not travel in the same social circles.” Dr. Ford said she dated Chris Garrett, referenced as a friend in his yearbook. In fact, she testified Garrett introduced her to Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh claimed he didn’t drink on weeknights but an entry on his calendar for Thursday July 1 states, “Go to Timmy’s for Skis w/ Judge, Tom, Pj, Bernie, Squi.” Kavanaugh clarified to Sen. Booker that “Skis” referred to beer.
The entry is significant because it closely matches the people whom Ford testified were at the house on the night that Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Kavanaugh also wrongly claimed that high school seniors were allowed drink beer because the drinking age in Maryland at the time was 18. In fact, in 1982, it was raised to 21 years of age, according to The Washington Post. Kavanaugh was 17 when the law changed.
After a tense standoff, the committee agreed to recommend a further FBI investigation in the the sexual assault claims and President Donald Trump subsequently ordered the agency to proceed with a week-long probe.
Sanders believes the investigation should include not only the sexual assault allegations but other false statements he allegedly made during hearings now and in 2004 and 2006. The FBI would be remiss if it did anything less.