mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. whitehouse. >> no. >> miss klobuchar. >> no. >> mr. cruz. >> on the nominee, no. >> mr. blouin many that will. >> no. >> >> mr. hooker. >> no. >> miss paris. >> no. >> mr. chairman. >> aye. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 11 yea, ten nays. >> the nominee will be reported to the floor. >> mr. chairman may i be recognized. >> yes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to thank my friend and colleague senator flake and thank you for giving us the time today to have a conversation. a number of my colleagues have asked for a one-week delay in order that there might be an fbi investigation of what allegations are currently before this committee. i respect senator flake's view that in his opinion it was best to respect your having given dr. ford the time to be heard yesterday and advance the nominee to the floor. but it is my hope that we could work together on a bipartisan basis to diligently pursue an fbi investigation within the next week, not for the purpose of delay, but for the purpose of investigating further either allegations made b

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: what is the business before the senate? the presiding officer: the senate is considering the feldman nomination. mr. durbin: thank you. madam president, i ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, plow through, plow through this nomination. that's what the majority leader said over the weekend. we're going to plow through this nomination of brett kavanaugh for the supreme court. it doesn't sound to me like a recipe for fairness, and it certainly doesn't sound like a recipe for getting to the truth. plow through. that was what the republican majority leader said the republican majority would do. i was surprised when this all started by a spokesman for president trump, kelly anne conway. not noted for her moderation made a very, i thought, moderate and thoughtful statement at the beginning of the consideration of dr. ford's charges. she said we are neither going to ignore or insult dr. ford. i though

mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: madam president, i think it's important for us at this moment to reflect on a little senate history. this goes back to the year 1991, 27 years ago. it was a chapter in the history of the senate and the senate judiciary committee, which many people who lived through it either as observers or participants will never forget. it refers to the hearings for the approval of the nomination of clarence thomas to the supreme court. let me read to you a summary of what occurred. after anita hill alleged that judge clarence thomas had sexually harassed her, the full senate on october 8, 1991, agreed by by unanimous vote, unanimous consent, to delay a vote on thomas' nomination to the supreme court until october 15. madam president, let me underline that. the full senate agreed by unanimous consent to delay the vote after the allegations surfaced. three days later, beginning on october 11, the senate judiciary committee held public hearings over the course of three days enabling clarence th

mr. durbin, senator lahe asked questions and they are fishing, and i will just tell you judge kavanaugh made them look so inept and unable to understand that they were looking inept, not only is he far more brilliant, far more articulate, he's got encycolpedic memory and they don't realize how small they are compared to him. >> i think you have expressed exactly -- when i listened to kamala harris and dick durbin, frankly some of the republicans as they try to stay up with him, it was a very, it was very revealing both as to their capacity and the -- and the nominee's extraordinary intellect as you say. we are going to see this nominee be approved and be ready for the fall term on the supreme court? >> my understanding is that they're going wrap this thing up sometime mid to late september and he will be confirmed and that he'll be sitting there for the october session and that's my hope. i mean, look, this guy is really talented. he is really a brilliant jurist, just a great man. >> you know, this nominee kavanaugh and sitting on the court, the president's other nominee, neil gorsuch, i mea

mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. whitehouse. >> no. >> miss klobuchar. >> no. >> mr.ongly object. this is just totally ridiculous. what a railroad job. the sans answer is no, no, no! >> mr. booker. [ inaudible ] >> miss harris? [ inaudible ] miss harris? >> senator? [ inaudible ] >> they're not answering because it's so unfair, mr. chairman -- >> breaks our rules and customs. >> aye. >> mr. chairman, votes are 11 yeas, 8 nays. >> okay, motion carried. i'll go to my opening statement now. we have an agenda on -- with ten judges who are ready to be voted on. brent kavanaugh nominee to the supreme court, jonathan clobus, nominated to the 8th circuit and eight district court judges. we also have two bills on the agenda. we will hold over s-3178. the justice for victims of lynching act. we will vote on s-2785, the act sponsored by senators durbin and graham. this bill combats offensive election interference by foreign adversaries by denying entry to any foreign national deemed to have engaged in election interference. the amendment i'll be introducing makes clear that the

mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. blumenthal. >> no. >> mr. booker. >> no. >> miss harris. >> no. >> the votes are 11 nays. ten ayes. >> the nominee will be reported. >> i want to thank my friend and colleague senator flake and thank you for giving us the time today to have a conversation. a number of my colleagues have asked for a one week delay in order there might be an fbi investigation of what allegations are currently before this committee. i respect senator flake's view that in his opinion it was best to respect your having given drchl ford t dr. ford to be heard yesterday and advance the nominee to the floor. it's my hope we could work together on a bipartisan basis to diligently pursue an fbi investigation within the next week not for the purpose of delay but for the purpose of investigating further either allegations made by dr. ford or others with a goal towards demonstrating a bipartisan commitment to diligently investigating these allegations. thank you. >> senator feinstein. >> i would support that motion. i misunderstood mr. fla

mr. durbin, . >> on the nominee, no. >> no. >> mr. booker? >> no. >> ms. harris? >> no. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 11 nay, 10 yea. >> i want to thank you for giving us the time today to have it in a conversation. a number of my colleagues have asked for a one week delay in order that there might be an fbi investigation of what allegations are currently before this committee. i respect senator flake's view that in his opinion it was best to respect your having given dr. ford the time to be heard yesterday and advance the nominee to the floor. but it is my hope that we could work together on a bipartisan basis to diligently pursue an fbi investigation within the next week. not for the purpose of delay but for the purpose of investigating further either allegations made by dr. ford or others with a goal towards demonstrating a bipartisan commitment to diligently investigate these allegations. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, senator flake. >> i would support that motion. i think we do need this investigation. i sort of misunderstood senator flake what you are doing, i thoug

mr. durbin. >> violate it is. no mr. lighthouse?. >> no. >> blumenthal -- >> strongly october this is ridiculous -- no, no. no. >> mr. booker. >> ms. harris. >> they're not answer aing because this is so unfair mr. chairman. motion carried. i'll go to my opening statement now. >> we have an agenda with ten judges who are ready to be voted on. brett kavanaugh nominated the supreme court, jonathan nominated the eight circuit, eight district court judges with two bills on the agenda. we will hold over s3178. the justice for victims of lynching act. we will vote on s2785, the deter act by senator durbin and graham this combats observancive election interference by foreign adversaries by dedying entry to any foreign national who has been deaned to engage in election interference. the amendment i would be introducing makes clear that the secretary of homeland security will make this decision on who has engaged in the election interference in the consultation with the attorney general. the director of national intelligence and the secretar

mr. durbin? >> no. >> mr. whitehouse?. >> no. >> miss hirono. >> no. [ inaudible ]. >> mr. chairman? >> aye. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 11 aye, 10 nay. >> the nominee will be reported to the floor. >> may i be recognized? >> yes. >> i want to thank my colleague, senator flake, and thank you for giving us the time today to have a conversation. a number of my colleagues have asked for a one-week delay in order that there might be an fbi investigation of what allegations are currently before this committee. i respect senator flake's view that in his opinion, it was best to respect your having given dr. ford the time to be heard yesterday and advance the nominee to the floor, but it is my hope that we could work together on a bipartisan basis to diligently pursue an fbi investigation within the next week not for the purpose of delay but for the purpose of investigating further either allegations made by dr. ford or others with a goal towards demonstrating a bipartisan commitment to diligently investigating this allegation

mr. durbin said the charges against mr. manafort came because they had to, quote, follow the money, unquote, to discover mr. manafort's financial records and ties to russia through his lobbying work in the ukraine. the comments provoked a sharp rebuke from judge ellis. quote, it didn't lead to that, unquote. he said of the manafort charges and russia probe. quote, it was given to you by the department of justice, unquote. well, that sounds like a courageous judge, judge t.s. ellis. sounds like a judge who calls hem as he sees them. but, as the saying goes, where the rubber meets the road, his courage, his constitutional conviction took a backseat to convenience. so he got accolades for calling out the mueller investigation for exactly what it is. it is unconstitutional. mueller has taken an investigation, he was not appointed by the president, he was not appointed by the attorney general. he was picked by the same guy that was involved in the russia investigation, of russia's effort to get uranium. he hired another lawyer n

mr. durbin. >> mr. white house. >> mr. blumenthal. >> mr. booker. >> mr. harris. >> mr.eated. now as i said, we set the vote for at 1:30 p.m. today. >> mr. chairman, point of order. >> mr. chairman, point of order. >> stop violating the rules of the committee. >> mr. flake. >> it continues. >> mr. kennedy. >> ms. feinstein. >> it violates this committee. it violates it. >> mr. blumenthal. >> no. >> ms. hirono. >> i object. the answer is no, no. >> mr. booker. >> ms. harris. >> they are not answering because this is so unfair, mr. chairman. >> follow the rules and customs. >> mr. chairman, the votes are 11 11 -- we have an agenda with ten judges who are ready to be vote. nominated the eighth circuit and a district court judges. we also have two bills on the agenda. we will hold over as 31-78. the justice for victims of lynching asked, we will vote on s2785, sponsored by senators durbin and grandma. of this bill combats offensive election interference by foreign adversaries by denying entry to any foreign national who has been deemed it to engage election interference. the

and particularly in the event of a supreme court hearing. >> senator durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. like my colleague senator whitehouse, i don't want my silence to be interpreted as a consent to the process that we have faced before this senate judiciary committee. it's unlike any process i have ever seen. this designation of committee confidential should be put in historic context. there will be an opportunity for us later this afternoon to meet in secret private session to discuss this nominee. that's not unusual. it's done for virtually every nominee. some of the meetings are literally a minute or two. we say there's nothing to talk about and we're leaving. it's happened in the past. whenever we dealt with committee confidential, it was something that was very special and usually very personal to a nominee. it was done by bipartisan agreement that we would protect the nominee from assertions or comments that may not have any truth to them whatsoever. but the committee should take into consideration. that is a far cry from what we have faced with this nominee. i cannot

release to the public and particularly in the event of a supreme court hearing. >> senator durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. like my colleague senator whitehouse i don't want my silence to be a consent to the process we've faced. it is unlike any process i have ever seen. this designation of committee confidential should be put in historic context. there will be an opportunity for us later this afternoon to meet in confidential and secret private session to discuss this nominee. that is not unusual. it is done for virtually every nominee. some of the meetings are literally last a matter of a minute or two and we say there's nothing to talk about and we're leaving. but it's happened in the past. whenever we dealt with committee confidential, it was something very specific and usually very personal to a nominee. and it was done bye-b bipartisa agreement we would protect the nominee from assertion or comments that may not have any truth to them whatsoever but the committee should take into consideration. that is a far cry from what we have faced with this nominee. i cannot understand and i said this

durbin. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for the way you've presided over this committee. it's been a challenge for the last several days, the u.n. i have been through battles in the past, both as allies and its enemies in its enemies in the abolish unfairness and i appreciate the fairness you shown during the course of this hearing. i also want tone say a word abot the protesters have interrupted the hearing from time to time. as i said at the outset, this is one of the cost of democracy in it's on the senate judiciary committee, which has been constructed for guarding our constitution should value even when it'ss inconvenient. i could go into a long riskier, but i won't in the interest of time. i don't know who organized these protests are why they did it, that's a goodness in the united states of america where we generate d freese beach commend these things can happen. i want to thank the men and women of the capitol police and those in charge ofof our securiy during this period of time as well. i would like to also ask for two things to be entered into the record. firs

. >> senator durbin. >> mr. chairman, i ask consent to enter into the record letters of support for dr. ford from her classmates at holton arms school, 1200 alumni of the school, 195 of your colleague, students, and mentors, 1400 men and women who attended d.c. schools, and 15 members of the yale law school faculty calling for a full fbi investigation. i ask consent to enter these into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> as difficult as this experience must be, i want you to know your courage in coming forward has given countless americans the strength to face their own life-shattering past and begin to heal their wounds. by example, you have brought many families into an honest and sometimes painful dialogue that should have occurred a long time ago. y i'll sorry for what this has done to you and your family. no one, no one should face harassment, death threats, and comments by cheap shot politicians simply for telling the truth. you and your family should know for every scurrilous charge and every

. >> senator durbin. >> mr. chairman i ask consent to enter into the record letters of support for dr. ford from her classmates at holton-arms school, 1,200 alumni of the school, 195 of your colleagues, students and mentors, 1,400 women who and men who attended d.c. schools and 15 members of the yale law school faculty who are calling for a full fbi investigation. i ask consent to enter these into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> dr. ford, as difficult as this experience must be, i want you to know that your courage in coming forward has given countless americans the strength to face their own life shattering past and to begin to heal their wounds. by example, you have brought many families into an honest and sometimes painful dialogue that should have occurred a long time ago. i'm sorry for what this has done to you and your family. no one, no one should face harassment, death threats, and disparaging commenting by cheap shot politicians simply for telling the truth. you and your family should k

the clerk: shelby, blunt, durbin, murray, and leahy. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session for the en bloc consideration of the following nominations, executive calendar 1054, 1055, 1056, 1058, 1059. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report the nominations en bloc. the clerk: nominations, don't of state, -- department of state, michael a. hamlin of, derek to be ambassador of the united states of america to the republic of moldova, philip s. kos have a to be -- stephanie sander sullivan of maryland to be ambassador to the republic of gonna. -- ghana. judy risey wringy to be ambassador for the united states of america to be ambassador to montenegro. mr. mcconnell: i i ask that the senate vote en bloc, if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, en bloc, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, no further motions be in order and any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record. the presiding officer: wi

mr. chairman, a letter to senators feinstein and durbin august 16th of this year asking do we make documents related to this issue public. without it being public it's not fair to me and not fair to judge kavanaugh, i can't hand him the actual documents which i think would refresh his memory and i would ask, again, i might look at that before my next turn, can we make those public. >> you tell us what documents you want and i'll make them available to you, but i can't say that they can be made public. just as i said last year during justice gorsuch's confirmation. i put a process in place that will allow my colleagues to obtain the public release of confidential documents for use during the hearing. all i ask was my colleagues to identify the documents they intended to use and i would work to get the department of justice and former president bush to agree to waive restrictions on the documents. senator feinstein secured the public release of 19 documents last year under this process, and senator klobuchar secured the release of documents this year. if my colleague truly believes other confi

. >> senator durbin. >> mr. chairman, i ask consent to enter into the record letters of support for dr. ford from her classmates at holten-arms school, 1200 alumni of the school and 195 of your mentor and 1,400 and men and women that attended d.c. schools and 50 members of the yale faculty calling for a full fbi investigation. ask for consent to enter into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> as difficult as this experience must be, i want you to know that your courage in coming forward has given countless americans the strength to face their own life shattering past and begin to heal wounds. by example you have brought many families into an honest and sometimes painful dialogue that should have occurred a long time ago. i'm sorry for what this has done to you and your family. no one -- no one should face harassment, death threats and disparaging comments by cheap shot politicians simply for telling the truth. you and your family should know that for every skurless charge and pathetic tweet, there ha

. >> senator durbin? >> mr. chairman, there was a phone conference yesterday, and i can tell you at the time of the phone conference, many issues were raised. one of the issues was the fact that over 100,000 documents related to judge kavanaugh have been characterized by the chairman of the committee as committee confidential. i have been a member of the committee for a number of years. committee confidential documents have been really limited to extraordinary circumstances. as an example, if someone is accused of taking drugs during the course of an investigati investigation -- i'm not making any suggestion that is even the case or close to it here -- it was done in a confidential setting, and fairness to the nominee. same on duis and the like. we use an extremely rare circumstances, where we'd meet after this committee hearing and sit down, and it usually related to a handful of pages or handful of document references. instead, what we found now is we are seeing hundreds of thousands of documents characterized

durbin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and like my colleague senator whitehouse, i don't want my silence to be interpreted as consent to the process that we have faced before this senate judiciary committee. it is unlike any process i have ever seen. this designation of "committee confidential" should be put in historic context, there will be an opportunity for us later this afternoon to meet in confidential and secret private session. to discuss this nominee. that is not unusual. it is done for virtually every nominee, some of the meetings are literally last a matter of a minute or two and we say there's nothing to talk about and we're leaving. but it's happened in the past. but whenever we dolt with committee confidential, it was something that was very specific and usually very personal to a nominee. and it was done by bipartisan agreement that we would protect the nominee from assertions or comments that may not have any truth to them whatsoever. but the committee should take them under consideration. that is a far cry

>> senator durbin? >> mr. chairman, there was a phone conference yesterday. and i can tell you at the time of the phone conference many issues were raised. one of the issues was the fact that over 100,000 documents related to judge kavanaugh have been characterized by the chairman of the committee as committee confidential. i have been a member of this committee for a number of years. committee confidential documents have been limited to extraordinary circumstances, as an example, if someone is accused of taking drugs during the course of an investigation and i'm not making any suggestions that that is even the case or close to it here, it was done in a confidential setting. in fairness to the nominee. and the same thing on d.u.i.s and the like. we used an extremely rare circumstances where we would meet after this committee hearing and sit down and it usually related to a handful of pages or a handful of document references. instead what we found now is that we're seeing hundreds of thousands of documents, characterized as committee confidential, unilaterall

. >> senator durbin. >> mr. chairman, i ask consent to enter into the record letters of support for dr. ford from her classmates at holten-arms school, 1200 alumni of the school and 195 of your mentor and 1,400 and men and women that attended d.c. schools and 50 members of the yale faculty calling for a full fbi investigation. ask for consent to enter into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> as difficult as this experience must be, i want you to know that your courage in coming forward has given countless americans the strength to face their own life shattering past and begin to heal wounds. by example you have brought many families into an honest and sometimes painful dialogue that should have occurred a long time ago. i'm sorry for what this has done to you and your family. no one -- no one should face harassment, death threats and disparaging comments by cheap shot politicians simply for telling the truth. you and your family should know that for every skurless charge and pathetic tweet, there ha

durbin. thank you, mr. chairman. like mccauley, senator whitehouse, i do want my silent to be interpreted as consent to the process that we have faced before the senate judiciary committee. it's unlike any process via the verse. this designation of committee confidential should be put in a historicen context. there would be an opportunity for us later this afternoon to meet in confidential and secret private sessions to discuss this nominee. that is not unusual. his done for virtually every nominee. some of the meetings arene literallyly lasting a minute or two when we say there's nothing to talk about. but it's happened in the a past. it was something that was very specific and very personal to a nominee. it was done by bipartisan agreement that we would protect assertions or comments that may not have any truth to them whatsoever. that is a far cry from what we face of this nominee. i cannot understand and the authority that we've given them in to the name of billboard. you will decide what america gets to see abou

durbin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh, earlier today, dr. christine ford sat in that same chair and under oath she said clearly and unequivocally that she was the convict of sexual assault at your hands. she answered our questions directly and she didn't flinch at the prospect of submitting herself to an fbi investigation of these charges. we know and i'm sure she's been advised by her attorneys that a person lying to the fbi can face criminal prosecution. you have clearly and unequivocally denied that you assaulted dr. ford. with that statement, you must believe that there is no credible evidence or any credible witness that can prove otherwise. you started off with an impassioned statement at the beginning and i can imagine, try to imagine, what you have been through, your family's been through, and i'm sure i wouldn't get close to it. >> i bet you wouldn't. >> i'm sure i wouldn't. it's an impassioned statement. and in the course of it, you said, "i welcome any kind of investigation." i quote you. "i welcome any kind of investigation." i'v

mr. chairman. >> before we take a break. i can't let what durbin -- senator durbin said, by the way, he's my friend, we work on a lot of legislation together. but you talked about the obstruction from the other side. i cannot let it go by what you've heard me say so many times, that between july 30th and september 13th, there were 45 days this committee could have been investigating this situation. and her privacy would have been protected. so, something happened here in between, on your side, that the whole country -- well, not the whole country should have known about it -- no, not know about it. we should have investigated it. we'll take a break now for 15 minutes. >> and that concludes the first round of questioning and they're taking a short break here. dr. christine blasey ford has been describing this night in very detailed moments. gayle king is of course, here. jan crawford, jan, let's start with you, what was your takeaway from this first round? >> well, when we first saw her, it was her demeanor and voice. >> me, too, jan, it's so girlis

mr. chairman, may i respond? >> senator durbin. >> mr. chairman, there was a phone conversation yesterday and i can tell you at the time of the phone conference many issues were raised. one of the issues was the fact that over 100,000 documents related to judge kavanaugh have been characterized by 2 chairman of the committee as committee confidential. i've been a member of this committee for a number of years. committee confidential documents have been limited to extraordinary circumstances. as an example, if someone is accused of taking drugs during the course of an investigation -- i'm not make a suggestion that is the case -- it was done in a confidential setting in fairness to the nominee. and the same thing on duis and the like. we use an extremely rare set of circumstances where we would meet after that committee hearing and sit down and it usually related to a handful of pages or document references. what we found now is we are seeing hundreds of thousands of documents characterized as committee confidential unilaterally, not on a

. >> senator durbin. >> mr. chairman, i ask consent to enter into the record letters of support for dr. ford from her classmates at holton-arms school, 1200 alumni of the school, 195 of your colleagues, students and mentors, 1400 women and men who attended d.c. schools, and 50 members of the yale law school faculty who are calling for a full fbi investigation. i ask consent to enter these into the record. >> without objection. so ordered. >> dr. ford, i want you to know that your courage in coming forward has given countless americans the strength to face their own life-shattering past and to begin to heal their unds. by example, you have brought many families into an honest and sometimes painful dialogue that should have occurred a long time ago. i'm sorry for what this has done to you and your family. no one, no one should face harassment, death threats and disparaging comments by chief-shot politician. you should know for every skurl lus charge and pathetic tweet, there are thousands of women and men who beli

durbin in that order. i see senator tillis -- >> i want to be recordation motion, too, mr. chairman. >> senator. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman, i move for the committee to authorize the issuance of the subpoena for the national archives for records from judge kavanaugh's service as staff secretary in the white house from 2003-2006 mr. chairman, it's my understanding that only a a subset of judge kavanaugh's white house counsel records as i pointed out, and none of his staff secretary records have been available. that's why the committee has just 7% of the records. some have tried to blame democrats for their failure to obtain judge kavanaugh's whole record. they claim our request for a staff secretary documents was too broad and would take too much time. they also say they were unwilling to use search terms to expedite that request. that is not true. on july 23, i sent a letter offering to work with the chaplains office to come up with search terms to prioritize staff secretary to request. that offer was refused. after that all of the democratic members of the commit

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thursday was an historic day in the senate committee with its fair share of history. in our deliberations of judge brett kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the supreme court, we have confronted some of the most serious charges leveled against a nominee. those charges were made at a moment in our nation's history living tl living through a cultural thing. women are moving to more and more positions of responsibility. they are airing grievances of sexual abuse. caught in this shift, there is not a person in this room who can truly measure the trajectory or ultimate outcome of this historic change. america is marching forward in the pursuit of justice for women in this country. sadly, many on the senate judiciary committee are still mired in the dead space it was 27 years ago during the clarence thomas nomination hearing. yesterday, in this room, america saw this inflammatory issue in realtime, in real life. dr. christine blasey ford was credible and resolute. when i asked her, directly un

durbin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh, its good to see you again. i thank the members of your family who are weathering this hearing. thank you very much for being here today. this is a different hearing for the supreme court than i've ever been through. its different in what's happened in this room just this morning. what we've heard is the noise of democracy. this is what happens in a free country when people can stand up and speak and not be jailed, imprisoned, tortured or killed because of it. it is not mob rule. there have been times when it is uncomfortable, i'm sure it was for your children. i hope you can explain this to them at some point, but it does represent what we are about in this democracy. why is this happening for the first time in the history of this committee? i think we need to be honest about why its happening. i think its the same reason why when i go home to illinois after being in this public service job for over 30 years i hear a question that i've never ever heard before repeatedly as people pull me off to the side and say

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thursday was an historic day in the senate committee with more than its fair share of history. in our deliberations over the nomination of judge brett kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the supreme court, we have confronted some of the most serious charges ever leveled against a nominee. those charges were made at a moment in our nation's history when we're living through a cultural revolution. women in america are not only emerging into more and more positions of responsibility, but they are now airing grievances over sexual harassment and abuse at every level of society. caught in the vortex of this cultural shift, there is not a person in this room who can truly measure the trajectory or ultimate outcome of this historic change. america is marching forward in the pursuit of justice. for women in this country. sadly, many on this senate judiciary committee are still mired in the dead space it was 27 years ago during the clarence thomas nomination hearing. yesterday in this room, ameri

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh, it's good to see you again. thank you, members of your family, who are weathering this hearing. thank you very much for being here today. this is a different hearing for the supreme court than i have ever been through. it's different in what's happened in this room just this morning. what we've heard is the noise of democracy. this is what happens in a free country when people can stands up and speak and not be jailed, imprisoned, tortured or killed because of it. it is not mob rule. there have been times when it is uncomfortable, i'm sure it was for your children. i hope you can explain this to them at some point, but it does represent what we are about in this democracy. why is this happening for the first time in the history of this committee? i think we need to be honest about why it's happening. i think it's the same reason why when i go home to illinois after being in this public service job for over 30 years, i hear a question that i've never, ever heard before, repeatedly. as people pull me off to the si

and, particularly in the event of a supreme court hearing. >> senator durbin. >> thank you, mr.hairman. like my colleague senator whitehouse, i don't want my silence to be interpreted as a consent to the process that we have faced before this senate judiciary committee. it is unlike any process i have ever seen. this designation of committee confidential should be put in historic contest. there will be an opportunity for us later this afternoon to meet and confidential and secret private session to discuss this nominee. that is not unusual. it is done for virtually every nominee. some of the meetings are literally a minute or two, we say there's nothing to talk about and we are leaving. but it has happened in the past, whenever we dealt with committee confidential it was something very specific and usually very personal to a nominee. it was done bipartisan agreement that we should protect assertions or comments that may not have any truth to them whatsoever. the committee should take them into consideration. that is a far cry from what we have faced with this nominee. i cannot u

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh, earlier today, dr. christine ford sat in that same chair and under oath said clearly and unequivocally that she was the victim of sexual assault at your hands. she answered our questions directly and she didn't flinch at the prospect of submitting herself to an fbi investigation of these charges. we know and i'm sure she's been advised by her attorneys that a person lying to the fbi can face criminal prosecution. you have clearly and unequivocally denied that you assaulted dr. ford. with that statement, you must believe that there is no credible evidence or any credible witness that can prove otherwise. you started off with an empassioned statement at the beginning, and i can imagine -- try to imagine what you have been through, your family has been through and i'm sure i wouldn't get close to it. >> no, you wouldn't. >> i'm sure you wouldn't. it's an impassioned statement. in the course of it you said, i welcome any kind of investigation. i quote you. i welcome any kind of investigation. i've got a sug

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh. dr.istine ford set in that chair and she said clearly that she was a victim of sexual assault of your hands. she answered our questions directly, and she didn't flinch at the prospect of an fbi investigation. we know and she's been advised that a person lying to the fbi can face criminal prosecution. you have clearly and unequivocally denied that you assaulted dr. ford. with that statement, you must believe that there is no credible evidence or any credible witness that can prove otherwise. you started off with an impassioned statement at the beginning and i can imagine, try to imagine what you've been through and your family has been through and i'm sure i wouldn't get close to it. but it was -- >> you wouldn't. >> i'm sure i wouldn't. it's an impassioned statement. in the course of it, you said "i welcome any kind of investigation." i quote you. i welcome any kind of investigation. i've got a suggestion for you. right now, turn to your left in the front row to don mcgahn, counsel to pre

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh earlier today dr.istine ford said in that same chair she said under oath queerly unequivocally she was victim of sexual assault at your hands. she answered our questions directly and she didn't flinch at the prospect of submitting herself to an fbi investigation of these charges. we know and i'm sure she has been advised by her attorneys that a person lying to the fbi can face criminal prosecution. you have clearly and unequivocally denied that you assaulted dr. ford. with that statement, you must believe that there is no credible evidence or any credible witness that can prove otherwiseyou started off with an impassioned statement at the beginning, i can try to imagine what you have been through, what your family has been through, i'm sure you wouldn't get close to it. >> no, you wouldn't. >> i'm sure i wouldn't. impassioned statement. in course of it you said i welcome any kind of investigation. i quote you. i welcome any kind of investigation. i've got to suggestion for you. right now. turn to your

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> earlier today dr.ine ford sat in that same chair and under oath she said clearly and unequivocally that she was the victim of sexual assault at your hands. she answered our questions directly and she didn't flinch at the prospect of submitting herself to an fbi investigation of these charges. we know and i'm sure she's been advised by her attorneys that a person lying to the fbi can face criminal prosecution. you have clearly and unequivocally denied that you assaulted dr. ford. with that statement, you must believe that there is no credible evidence or any credible witness that could prove otherwise. you started off with an impassioned statement at the beginning, and i can imagine -- try to imagine what you have been through and your family has been through and i'm sure i wouldn't get close to it. >> no, you wouldn't. >> it's an impassioned statement, and in the course of it you said i welcome any kind of investigation. i quote you. >> yeah. >> i welcome any kind of investigation. i've got a suggestio

mr. chairman, by thanking senator durbin. response to his questions about the judiciary, the role of the judiciary, he gave me a book when we met, a biography of frank johnson. that friday night after a lot of senate meetings and a lot of practice sessions, i went home, read the whole thing, and i appreciate it. it's a good model of judicial independence. it's a great story about someone who was a judge in the south in the civil rights era who stood firm for the rule of law. so a good model, and i thank senator durbin for giving me the book. >> thank you, judge kavanaugh. that night obviously the nationals weren't playing. >> yes. >> senator lee. >> you've been watching senator dick durbin, democrat of illinois, questioning the supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. we're going to keep an eye on that hearing. we'll bring you back there if there is big news. now other big breaking news here in washington today. it's at the white house where the president is demanding names. first and foremost, the president wants the name of t

mr. -- senator durbin said the more important question is that we stop the hearing.hat is when my opinion changed and i said, this is definitely to stop his confirmation and nothing to do with the truth. that part was disturbing. to find out they had this information from july 6th, that more did not come out until the 30th, i started to go on the internet and find out information. the only information you seem to find is the stuff about what is going on in the past couple of days. then i went on to a website which ratemyprofessor, talks about professors all over the country and her information was there in the morning and parts of it was taken down and then the rest of it was taken down and a lot of it was not so flattering. that part has me really disturbed. i do not think an investigation should continue. i think the republican party has extended the courtesy to her after she came out to be heard and, for whatever reason, now she is choosing not to. i don't think one person should tie up the entire country because of this. otherwise, it sets precedents. it sets pre

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh, mrs. kavanaugh, thank you for being back today to face this next round. if i had to pick an area of clear expertise when it comes to brett kavanaugh, it would be the area of judicial nominations. you have been engaged in that at several different levels, including your own personal experience. and so i'd like to ask you if you would comment on the strategy of your own nomination. specifical >> lee whether those who are planning strategy. with you thereou decision on. no. d i was not all the document will 100,000 related to your service in the white house? the there is a couple of things back into your question looking at the precedent upon hearing, this came up with justice leah --dash leah with head of legal counsel. and i know with chief justice robert there were four years he was principal deputies be back with document. >> again i was not involved in the document discussion or substance in terms of decision coming to me like the night is robert i don't distinguish that is indifferent.

. >> senator durbin. >> mr.k consent to enter no the record letters of support for dr. ford from her classmates at holton arms school, 1200 alumni of the school. 195 of your colleagues, students and mentors. 1400 women and men who attended d.c. schools and 50 members of the yale law school faculty calling for a full fbi law school investigation. i ask consent to enter these into the record. >> without objection so ordered. >> dr. fords a difficult as this must be i want you to know your courage and coming forward given americans to face their life shattering past to heal their wounds. by example you have brought many families into an honest and sometimes painful dialogue that should have occurred a long time ago. i'm sorry for what this has done to you and your family. no one, no one should face harrassment, death threats and disparaging comments by cheap shot politicians simply for telling the truth. but you and your family should know for every scurrilous charge and every pathetic tweet there have been thousan