While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) stated that if “an allegation that’s 35 years old, that’s uncertain in time, place, date, and no corroboration,” is good enough for Republicans to vote against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, “God help us all as Republicans.”
Graham said, “I’ve got a guy who adamantly denies this. Everybody who actually knows him, in a real way, say[s] this is not the guy I know. I’ve got Dr. Ford, who can’t tell me the time and the place. And we’ll see what happens.”
Graham added, “Let me put it this way, to my Republican colleagues, if this becomes the new standard, where you have an accusation for weeks, you drop it right before the hearing. You withhold from the committee a chance to do this in a professional, timely fashion, when they publicly say that their goal is to delay the vote, get the Senate back in 2018, to make sure he can’t fill the seat, they’re publicly saying that, I don’t want to reward that kind of behavior. I think we’ve been very fair. And to my Republican colleagues, if you can ignore everything in this record, looking at an allegation that’s 35 years old, that’s uncertain in time, place, date, and no corroboration, if that’s enough for you, God help us all as Republicans. Because this happens to us. It never happens to them. But let me tell you, my Democratic friends, if this is the new norm, you better watch out for your nominees.”
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