Chaos erupted less than 30 minutes into Brett Kavanaugh’s Tuesday morning confirmation hearing with the Senate, as hecklers interrupted the session with loud shrieking.
Protesters were escorted out of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing just minutes after it began this morning. pic.twitter.com/w8WJqB7krG
— POLITICO (@politico) September 4, 2018
Meanwhile, the hearing itself got off to a contentious start after Democratic Senators began interrupting Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The Democrats, starting with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) demanded that Grassley adjourn the hearings, while Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) called for the same.
“We cannot possibly move forward,” said Harris, to which Grassley said she was out of order. Protesters erupted in the gallery upon the Democratic Senators’ interruptions.
Harris, Klobuchar, and Blumenthal immediately object to the fact that they just received 42,000 pages of documents about Kavanaugh. Ask for hearing to be postponed.
Chairman Grassley just talks over them and continues his introduction. pic.twitter.com/HNNENZqCyf
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 4, 2018
Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey asked “what is the rush?” to confirm Kavanaugh amid the largest release of documents in USSC nominee history.
.@CoryBooker: “What is the rush? What are we trying to hide by not having the documents out front?”
Democrats push for a delay in confirmation hearing over Kavanaugh documents. https://t.co/0Fgfd7QhTO pic.twitter.com/VT7XaKijca
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 4, 2018
“What are we trying to hide? Why are we rushing?” asked Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), to which Grassley responded: “I think if I answer those questions it is going to fit into the effort of the minority to continue to obstruct, and I don’t think that that’s fair to our judge.”
“What are we trying to hide? Why are we rushing?” Democratic Sen. Leahy asks Chairman Grassley of Kavanaugh documents that have yet to be produced to the committee. pic.twitter.com/iUIWh3YCg6
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 4, 2018
Democrats slammed the Trump administration on Sunday for refusing to release thousands of documents related to Kavanaugh, after attorneys for the Bush II administration – in which Kavanaugh worked – said that approximately 27,000 records would be off limits under “constitutional privilege.”
In a Saturday press release, the Senate Judiciary Committee said that they had “expanded access to confidential material beyond that for any other Supreme Court nominee.”
Developing…
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