Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, yesterday the Republican leader began his speech with a quote of mine. Let me begin mine with a quote of his. ``We're going to plow right through it.'' That is Leader McConnell: We are going to plow right through it. He was speaking to the Values Voter Summit about serious allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Judge Kavanaugh. ``We're going to plow right through it.'' Does that sound like someone who is treating these allegations with respect and fairness and evenhandedness? Does it sound like someone who wants to get at the real facts no matter where they fall? Certainly not to me and not to the American people.

Then, yesterday, Leader McConnell brought the debate to a new low by calling the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh a ``Democratic smear job.'' Never mind that Leader McConnell has no evidence--no evidence whatsoever--that the recent allegations were contrived by Democrats. They were not. Never mind that Leader McConnell has no evidence--no evidence whatsoever--that the events in question took place or didn't take place. It seems likely they did, but he has no evidence one way or the other because he will not even ask for an investigation of it.

He then unilaterally declared the accounts of multiple women to be ``manufactured mud,'' part of a partisan smear campaign. Let me address these comments directly that these allegations are part of a ``Democratic smear job.''

First, these allegations did not originate with Democrats. These women came forward with principle and courage, knowing they would face abuse and lasting personal pain for doing so, but realizing they had an obligation to the country, they did so anyway.

Dr. Ford came forward and shared her story voluntarily and on her own initiative. She wasn't put up by a Democrat or Republican or anybody else. It came from her heart. The idea that these allegations were cooked up or instigated or encouraged by Democrats in Congress is patently absurd and a real insult to the members of the Judiciary Committee and the Members of this Chamber. It is against the spirit, if not the letter, of our Senate rules.

Addressing the second part of McConnell's claim, that is even worse. Democrats and Republican are always throwing charges at each other, but the idea that this is a smear job--whatever you think of the veracity of the allegations, it is shameful--shameful--to doubt the women's sincerity. To say they are making it up and to discredit their sincere testimony is nothing more than a partisan hit job.

For too long, people in positions of power have dismissed accounts made by women before any evidence could be brought forward as politically motivated or character assassination. We have come a long way in this country, and we have to be better than that--better than the low standard Senator McConnell has set.

At a minimum, we must respect these women and Judge Kavanaugh by handling these allegations with the seriousness they deserve. Leader McConnell owes an apology to Dr. Ford for labeling her allegations a ``smear job.'' Let me repeat that. Leader McConnell owes an apology to Dr. Ford for labeling her allegations a ``smear job,'' and he should apologize to her immediately.

It is galling--galling--for the Republican leader, who has done more than maybe anyone else to politicize the Supreme Court nomination process, to make these trumped-up, hyperbolic charges of partisanship by Democrats.

It is a sad habit of Republicans to accuse the other side of doing what they, in fact, are doing. It happens over and over. That seems to be the case here, as Democrats have over and over urged the FBI to help investigate these allegations, to get to the bottom of it, to get to the truth, while Republicans block any investigation and plow right through with their nominee.

It is simple. If Leader McConnell were truly concerned about these allegations being swept up in partisanship, he would join us in calling for an FBI background investigation, which can be performed quietly, soberly, quickly, and effectively, without fuss, without muss, and without any circus atmosphere. That is the way to get this done. The only reason it hasn't happened is that both the President and Leader McConnell have blocked it, as well as Senator Grassley. Don't they want the truth? They say they do, but their actions belie that because they will not even entertain a background check, which the FBI does over and over, to find out the facts. I think they are afraid of the facts.

Why doesn't Judge Kavanaugh call for an FBI investigation? He went on TV last night and said they are not true. If they are not true, he has nothing to fear from an FBI background investigation, and he should want it, no matter what Leader McConnell and President Trump say. Why doesn't he call for it? Is he afraid of the facts?

So I challenge you, Leader McConnell. If you are so convinced this is a smear campaign, you will have no problem with an FBI investigation to prove your case. Come to the floor. Come now. Join me in asking the White House to reopen the background check. Let's get the politics out of it. Let's root out the facts. Let's get to the truth--no histrionics, no smearing, no name-calling--as they said in Dragnet, just the facts.

Labeling this a partisan smear job demeans not only the Senators in my caucus, who I know are doing everything they can to treat these allegations with caution and respect for both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, but it demeans many, many women who have come forward of their own volition, knowingly inviting abuse, to share their stories. They share them not because they simply want their stories to be told. They want to prevent it from happening again and again and again in the future. They want to protect their daughters and their granddaughters from this kind of stuff, which, as we have seen in the last year or two, has been all too real, all too frequent. They are doing a noble thing. Then, to slander them by calling what Dr. Ford said a smear job is outrageous, demeaning, wrong. Again, Leader McConnell should rethink what he said in the heat of the moment and apologize to Dr. Ford.

So what is really going on here? Why are Republicans falsely claiming that credible allegations are being made for political reasons? Because their nominee to the Supreme Court, frankly, has a gigantic credibility problem.

In his testimony before the Judiciary Committee, Judge Kavanaugh misled the committee on numerous occasions regarding his involvement in some of the ugliest controversies of the Bush administration, including the Bush administration's policies on torture, the confirmation of some deeply flawed judges, like William Pryor and Charles Pickering, and his knowledge of the odious theft of Democratic email records by a Republican staff member named Manny Miranda. In all of those, Judge Kavanaugh did not come clean. He did not tell the truth and nothing but the truth, but far, far from it.

Judge Kavanaugh was in the thick of all of those things as a top political operative in the Bush White House and yet denied any involvement. Here again, with these new allegations brought forward by Dr. Ford and others, Judge Kavanaugh is again issuing blanket denials, but the question looms: Is he credible? Is he credible?

He is opposed to having the FBI investigate, as is the majority leader and as is President Trump. None of them want the facts to come out. They just want to ``plow right through it.'' If not for the courage of a handful of Republican Senators, we wouldn't have even had the hearing. Leader McConnell and Senator Grassley did not want hearings--even hearings, which they are now saying are fair and right. But a few Republican Senators, to their credit, said: We have to have hearings. At least let's hear this woman out.

I didn't hear them calling this a smear job, thank God. They said: Let's get the facts.

Again, to repeat, the best way to get the facts is not to just plow through it. It is to have the FBI do what they have always done when new information comes up involving a nominee they may have already checked out: Reopen the background check and check out these new facts. It will not take long. It will be done quietly and in private, and then the Judiciary Committee members, on both sides of the aisle, can learn the same facts, done by an objective observer. That is all the American people want.

The American people see what is going on. They are looking at Judge Kavanaugh, and they are finding him less and less credible. That is why his nomination is in deep trouble. Perhaps that is why, in poll after poll, the plurality of Americans say Judge Kavanaugh should not be confirmed.

Let us get the facts. Let us stop smearing women who have the courage to come forward. Let's get to the bottom of this in a correct, appropriate, and dignified way. That is what the American people want, and that is what we should be doing in a bipartisan way in this Chamber.

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