Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it is another morning in the Senate and another partisan diatribe coming from my good friend--and he is my good friend--the majority leader. Instead of looking at what happened--that a young woman came forward because she felt compelled to, knowing she would risk so much to herself, which, unfortunately, has happened--he seeks to blame somebody else; in this case, the Democrats.

Let's remember that Dr. Ford came forward before Judge Kavanaugh was even nominated. Dr. Ford came forward and called up two people before anyone even knew of her allegations, including, one, a hotline from the Washington Post, according to her testimony. Our colleague--my colleague here--has engaged in a giant Kabuki game. He knows how believable Dr. Ford is. He knows the majority of the American people believe Dr. Ford was telling the truth rather than Judge Kavanaugh. He knows any focus on Dr. Ford would bring more feelings that Judge Kavanaugh is the wrong person for the Supreme Court, but he can't attack Dr. Ford because of her credibility--greater than Judge Kavanaugh's--so he attacks ``Democrats,'' increasing the partisan rancor and basically the fundamental lack of getting to the truth in this Chamber.

I would like to ask the majority leader a few questions based on what he said a few minutes ago. He said this debate has been filled with partisan histrionics. Mr. Leader, are you accusing Dr. Ford of engaging in partisan histrionics when she came forward?

He said the politics of personal destruction is rampant. Again, Mr. Leader, are you accusing Dr. Ford of engaging in the politics of personal destruction?

He talked about people being intimidated. Again, Mr. Leader, are you accusing Dr. Ford of intimidating the Senate because she had the courage to come forward?

He talks over and over about the outrageous smear. Mr. Leader, it is about time you came forward and came clean. When you say ``outrageous smear,'' you are really referring to what Dr. Ford said, but you can't say so because everyone knows that kind of rhetoric would be outrageous.

It is her testimony that got this whole thing going; her testimony, required by one courageous Republican who said he wouldn't just rush things through, as Leader McConnell attempted to do, and that is why there was a hearing, not any Democrats--none.

I said yesterday, the leader is telling one of the greatest mistruths I have heard on the floor; that Democrats have delayed. Again, Mr. Leader, what power do we have to delay? Isn't it true that you set the time and place of hearings--or your committee chairs do--and you set the time and place of when we vote, with no effect from the Democrats, no influence by Democrats. If you have delayed, Mr. Leader, it is because you have delayed. If there has been delay, Mr. Leader, it is because you have delayed.

Ultimately, Dr. Ford came forward and won America's heart, and our Republican colleagues were upset because that might derail their headlong rush to put Judge Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. Led by Judge Kavanaugh at his return testimony and by President Trump and by Leader McConnell, they have tried to misdirect the whole issue away from Dr. Ford, who is the cause--the reason--we are debating all of this, and toward other boogeymen, many of whom happen to be Democrats, coincidentally. It is wrong.

What our Republican friends are doing--what my dear friend, the leader, is doing--is demeaning to Dr. Ford, and demeaning is the last thing Dr. Ford and others who have gone through what she went through needs now or deserves now.

So I would say to the leader, if you are talking about partisan histrionics, if you are talking about politics of personal destruction, if you are talking about being intimidated, if you are talking about outrageous smears, you are really accusing Dr. Ford of all of those things, not anyone else, because she is the reason we are all here in this type of discussion, and no Democrat importuned her to come--no Democrat.

Senator Feinstein tried to respect her wishes and not make it public. That was not a political instinct, that was a human instinct. As I understand it, Senator Feinstein's staff called each week and said: Do you want to go public now? And Dr. Ford said no, and Dianne Feinstein respected that. Now, because she did that, our Republican friends are accusing her of manipulating. Manipulating what? Dr. Ford's desire to keep this private?

We heard what Dr. Ford said. She wrestled with deciding whether to go public. She knew the damage it would create for her family, for her life--her very life. She decided she had an obligation to come forward. She decided she had to come forward. I believe her. A large number of Americans believe her, but even if you don't believe her and you choose to believe Judge Kavanaugh, don't demean Dr. Ford, which is exactly what you are doing.

It is a shame. It is a low point in a headlong rush to get somebody whose views are out of touch with the American people, who would, in all likelihood, greatly limit women's healthcare and women's right to choose, who would gravely constrain healthcare, who would allow this overreaching President to overreach with no constraint.

Dr. Ford seems to be a casualty along the way in terms of the name- calling, the nastiness, and the viciousness. Now, they don't say it is Dr. Ford, but make no mistake about it, it is her they are talking about because it was only she who brought all of these things up--not Democrats. Democrats didn't put words in her mouth. Her words came from the heart.

Now, I will make three final points about the documents that were released late last night. First, we Democrats had many fears this would be an all-too-limited process that would constrain the FBI from getting the facts. Having received a thorough briefing a few minutes ago, our fears have been realized. Our fears have been realized.

This is not a thorough investigation. According to Dr. Ford's lawyers and Ms. Ramirez's lawyers, there were many, many witnesses they wished to have interviewed, and they said they were not interviewed. They should be. Why not? What limits were placed on the FBI so that they couldn't do a full and thorough investigation? The word is, it was the White House, importuned by some of the Republican Senate staffers here.

Well, the White House has two choices: They can admit it or, if they deny it, they should at very minimum make the directive they sent to the FBI public. If the White House didn't limit what the FBI normally does when they do one of these background checks, it sure seems they did, given the limited number of witnesses or the so many witnesses who weren't called who should have been. Make it public. Let the American people see whether it was truly limited or not.

What else should be made public are these documents that we are allowed to look at. First, again, the idea that this should be full and thorough and open and available is once again belied by the pettiness on the Republican side and the White House. There is only one document for 100 Members to see in the course of a day. That is very hard to do, and there were a lot of documents. There is only one copy of these documents. Why weren't there 10 copies in that room? What the heck is going on here? It is just a pattern--a pattern of limiting access to facts, limiting access to truth, and limiting access to what the American people ought to know.

So I reiterate my call--particularly after receiving the briefing about what the documents contain--that they be made public. Obviously, there have to be appropriate redactions, and there should be, to protect the privacy of those who were interviewed. But there is no reason on God's green Earth that those documents can't be made public. Let the American people decide.

Leader McConnell said from the very beginning to the effect that he was going to rush this through. Starting with not releasing documents, followed by constraints from our Senate Republican colleagues on what should be limitations on the FBI's ability to do the new background check, all the way to this morning with one document in that room, the White House and the Republican side here in the Senate have attempted to rush this through regardless of the facts. It is wrong. It jaundices relationships between the sides in this body--which we all want to be better--hurts the agencies involved, the reputation of the FBI, and, above all, this hurts the Supreme Court and the American people.

Make no mistake about it. Once again, had this process been open and fair, maybe the outcome would be different; maybe it wouldn't. Who could tell? But at least there would be some respect for the process. That hasn't happened, and that is very bad for this body, for the Supreme Court, and for these United States of America.

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