Blog entry 3 – What lies did Kavanaugh tell?
Did you watch Kavanaugh’s testimony in defense against Ford’s accusations?
Here it is:
Kavanaugh’s testimony itself starts at 6:07. If you haven’t watched it, I recommend watching it.
Why is it important to watch this testimony critically?
I’ve characterized him as lying comprehensively in this testimony, zooming past any threshold of acceptable levels of lying that I could stomach. I think anyone who ever says “trust, but verify” ought to apply that perspective to his statements. His testimony itself is contradictory – in 150 minutes, his statements convinced me that he was lying to hide something relevant to the charges against him.
What specific lies have been readily identified in his testimony itself?
This article is pretty comprehensive:
The specific lie, all by itself, that is most damning involves the calendar entry on July 1, 1982 that says “Go to Timmy’s with Judge, Tom, PJ, Bernie, Squi”. In the same testimony, he stated “I never attended a gathering like the one Dr. Ford describes in her allegation.” Ford alleged “I attended a small gathering at a house in the Bethesda area. There were four boys I remember specifically being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, a boy named P.J., and one other boy whose name I cannot recall.”
As far as I can tell, this lie does not depend at all on the accuracy of Ford’s statement. It is a completely self-contained lie. Kavanaugh wrapped this up in its own little package, a fully self-contradictory set of evidence that he himself provided.
Is a single lie sufficient to impeach Kavanaugh? Why?!
Yes. Kavanaugh himself, earlier in his testimony, even stated that a single lie is sufficient to nullify all other testimony. (I remember reading about it early in the hearings; I’m sure I can find it if necessary.
Couldn’t Kavanaugh’s “mistakes” be attributed to the stress of the hearing?
Here is a list of lies elsewhere in his testimony:
Kavanaugh has a history of lies. Some of the lies during his testimony against Ford are obvious and compact. Some of the other lies require additional investigation.
Do Kavanaugh’s lies indicate that he DID sexually assault Ford?
They strongly imply it. He was accused by Ford of a sexual assault. Among the things he stated in his defense were that he hadn’t attended a gathering of the kind she described. But his calendar shows he HAD attended a gathering of that kind. People whose defense is shown to be false are almost certainly hiding something. It is ridiculous to claim that he was lying recreationally, for no actual objective. Although, if he WERE lying recreationally, it is no less an impeachable offense.
Can Kavanaugh’s lies be used to convict him of sexual assault against Ford?
I’m no lawyer. But I seriously doubt it, for a variety of reasons. Even if there isn’t some kind of statute of limitations regarding an assault, there’s absolutely no physical evidence, nor can I envision a way that physical evidence could be discovered. And Republicans are correct, it’s almost impossible to find Kavanaugh guilty of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt with so many of the facts absent.
If that specific lie should be sufficient to find Kavanaugh guilty of perjury, case closed, right? Why would anything else be needed?
Because apparently Republican politicians have convinced Republican voters that he DIDN’T lie. That his statements are truthful. IMHO, people might be convinced if they are exposed to more examples of his lies. And possibly more examples of misbehavior, apart from his lies. If there are more police records that haven’t been unearthed yet. If there are more people who will testify that Kavanaugh misbehaved when drunk. If there are more people who will testify that he was lying when he said he never blacked out. (Although that line of investigation is tricky. Demonstrating that he DID black out will mean that he was lying when he said he never blacked out… but then he could claim that maybe, yes, he had no memory of that gathering because maybe he had blacked out after all.)
And I suspect there will be at least some people who say "Lying is OK. Everyone lies. Clinton lied." Some of those people will always say that. But I hope that at least some will have some threshold of lies and misbehavior that Kavanaugh exceeded. There are probably SOME whose moral relativism is constantly willing to forgive Republicans while seeking to constantly punish Democrats.
But, the FBI investigated! So they didn’t find anything, and they found him innocent! Right?
No. First of all, the investigation was a sham. Neither Ford nor Kavanaugh were even interviewed at all. Who ever heard of an investigation where you don’t interview the subject of the investigation, or the person accusing the subject? Nor did the FBI investigate many people who reported that they had information to share relevant to the case. Even if they HAD, the fact remains that they reached no actual conclusions. They shared what findings they had with the senators, who then chose what to do with those findings. Of course, those findings were not made public. But I’m pretty sure that Republicans would have found a way to release them if they had supported Kavanaugh, either legitimately or through a leak of some kind. Democrats may have as well if the investigation revealed anything incriminating, so I doubt the investigation revealed anything useful.
Scott, you were all upset about Kavanaugh not being impartial. Why aren’t you including his lack of impartiality as impeachable?
First of all, Republicans can claim that everyone saw his testimony, and, if his lack of impartiality had been of concern, the Senate would have had to take that into consideration when they decided to confirm him. Second, they can claim he was under great stress, and that isn’t what he’s normally like.
Should Kavanaugh be impeached immediately, then? Won’t Trump just nominate someone else?
I imagine so. If Kavanaugh WERE impeached immediately, I presume Trump would still be President, and he has a list of other conservative justices that would be very similar to Kavanaugh (except, perhaps, for the sexual misconduct). We might even end up with another Supreme Court justice who would be even more conservative. Personally, it is not my objective to sway the balance of the Supreme Court back away from conservatives. It is my objective to remove a liar. Frankly, if Republicans in the Senate looked at this carefully, they might well conclude that it would be more useful to impeach Kavanaugh now and replace him, rather than risk having him impeached during a Democratic President’s tenure, since he’s so at risk for that. For all those _other_ people who are calling for Kavanaugh to be impeached, I think a lot of them would be horrified by the thought of someone else more conservative than Kavanaugh. The way I see it, Kavanaugh probably isn’t much different than Garland.
And I suspect that Republicans will still hold a majority in the Senate after the midterms. I hope they don't. Even if Democrats gain a majority, if Kavanaugh were somehow impeached, Trump would nominate the replacement. Especially after all the outrage over Garland, I don't see how Democrats could justify not even having hearings and voting on nominees. And this is all moot anyway, unless senate Republicans agree to impeach Kavanaugh. Which I don't see happening short-term.
But Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court NOW. Public opinion of the Supreme Court has been harmed dramatically by him. It’s important to remove him to restore the honor of the court, isn’t it?
I think the damage has already been done. And I’m not 100% certain respect for the Supreme Court will truly be restored by removing Kavanaugh. Some people in this country will see it as a coup against the court, no matter what evidence is ultimately used to impeach him. I keep going back to 9/11. The twin towers have fallen. Now is the time to try to prevent further attacks, and to try to build something wonderful in their place. We cannot undo the damage that has been done. But we can try to move forward rather than lashing out and making things worse.
I've taken no useful action today - I've just written this post. Some days will be like that. I'm happy to have made good progress over the past 3 days. Thanks to those like Kris and Saul and Jay who have been encouraging to me. If nothing else, this has helped me organize my thoughts.
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