Executive Calendar - Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, after the tumultuous week just past, after the fireworks during the Kavanaugh hearing--the second hearing--I think we all needed a little bit of time to decompress and to digest what exactly happened. I am, of course, referring to this contentious hearing over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. It was fair and necessary, in my view, to hold the hearing because Dr. Christine Ford, against her wishes, as it turned out, was thrust into the national spotlight by our Democratic colleagues. Once there, we believe she deserved her chance to tell her story. Just as importantly, Judge Kavanaugh deserved a chance to speak to the American people and to clear his name.

I have told people before, and I will say it again, I want to make sure Dr. Ford is treated no worse than my own daughters would be if they found themselves in this unfortunate circumstance or my mother or my wife. Similarly, I think Judge Kavanaugh should be treated as well as we would want our father, our brother, our son, or somebody's husband were they to find themselves in his circumstances.

This is about fairness in the end, fair process, one that gives everybody a chance to tell their story. One of the things that makes this so different is we know many of the Senators listening to this testimony--almost half of them--throughout the Senate had already made up their minds. I would hate to walk into a courtroom where the judge and the jury had already made up their minds without even hearing from the witnesses. Unfortunately, that is the kind of hearing room Judge Kavanaugh walked into last week.

We have heard Dr. Ford's story, and we have heard Judge Kavanaugh's strong and forceful rebuttal. What is so unusual now--I guess the goalposts seem to shift every day, maybe even every hour--some people are saying Judge Kavanaugh's rebuttal and his denial was so forceful, and he was obviously so upset, that somehow negatively reflects on his judicial temperament, and then he is disqualified for trying to defend his good name.

I will defy any Member of the Senate--frankly, anybody in the country--whose reputation and way of life was threatened with destruction, whose reputation as a father, as a husband, as a member of the second highest court in the country under similar attack on their reputation and their good name not to be angry about that if they believed the allegations against them were completely false. What we found is, there is simply no evidence to corroborate or confirm Dr. Ford's allegation.

We have all heard the individuals who Dr. Ford said were present the night of the alleged assault either have no recollection of such a party or say the assault never happened. That includes one of Dr. Ford's best friends at the time, Leland Keyser, who said she doesn't remember ever meeting Brett Kavanaugh and certainly she wasn't present at an event such as Dr. Ford described.

This brings us back to the hearing last week. We watched Judge Kavanaugh defend his personal integrity and his good name in front of the Nation. True, he did demonstrate some righteous indignation at the way our colleagues across the aisle have handled this confirmation. He became very emotional as he choked back tears, but I must say, he wasn't the only one choking back tears during his defense of his good name and reputation. There were many eyes around the room and across the country that were not dry. He didn't aim his fury at Dr. Ford but rather at the atrocious way the claims were sprung on him at the eleventh hour, using an unfair process that violated the rules of the Judiciary Committee. They were not handled in the normal way, which would have respected the privacy and the desire for confidentiality for Dr. Ford but at the same time made sure a good man was not smeared in public by allegations that could not be proven.

We know when Dr. Ford's allegations were brought to the attention of the Judiciary Committee in July--specifically to the ranking member, Senator Feinstein--she didn't share those with either the FBI, which she ultimately did long after the first hearing, or with the Judiciary Committee background investigation professional staff. That is the way they should have been handled. As a matter of fact, Dr. Ford said when she heard we would have interviewed her in California in a private, confidential setting about her allegations, she said: Nobody ever told me that.

She was thrust against her will into this national spotlight and circuslike atmosphere. Somebody is not helping Dr. Ford. Somebody is thrusting Dr. Ford into this position against her desires and expressed wishes, leaking her letter, which she asked remain confidential. It is, unfortunately, a pattern that is beginning to develop here.

That brings us back to the hearing last week. As I said, we watched the judge defend his integrity in front the Nation, but we know the allegations of Dr. Ford were held until the time was right, when they could be unveiled and weaponized and inflict the maximum amount of damage.

By the look on some of my colleagues' faces during the hearing last week, Judge Kavanaugh struck a nerve. I think they started to realize what these last couple of weeks must have been like for him and his family--his wife, his two daughters, his parents--and the girls he coached in basketball. I think that is why the judge felt like he had to defend forcefully his good name and reputation against unproven allegations. And who among us would do anything less?

We don't live in a country where once accused of something you are assumed to be guilty. That would be a violation in a court of due process of law. There is the presumption of innocence and the requirement that if you are going to make serious allegations against somebody--and, in this case, allegations of a crime--you have to meet certain standards. You have to prove it.

But here, as we found out, Dr. Ford's allegations were not proven. All of the people who, according to her, could substantiate her allegations said: I don't remember anything like that. I was never present at such an event.

But that doesn't seem to bother any of our colleagues who had already decided to oppose this nomination. That is one of the things I hate the most about Washington, DC. It is not enough to win an election. It is not enough to win an argument for some people. They want to destroy you. It is an ugly, cruel, and reckless way to treat another human being.

I wish I could say that some of my colleagues across the aisle expressed one ounce of remorse and publicly stated: You know, the way we handled this might have been wrong. Maybe we should have done it a different way. Maybe we should have raised the issue much earlier, as the normal way of processing such an allegation would be handled, in a way that protected Dr. Ford and gave her a safe environment to tell her story and be questioned by the bipartisan professional staff who handle background investigations, as well as the FBI.

We could have done that in a way that respected Dr. Ford's wishes, but we did not because of the way this has been mishandled. So far as I can tell, none of our colleagues across the aisle who have foisted this unfair, embarrassing, disgraceful process on Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh--none of them--expressed any regret or remorse or offered any apologies.

They haven't been willing to admit that their stealth tactics have done damage to one man and his family, to the Senate, to the Supreme Court, and to our national fabric, at the same time exposing Dr. Ford to the sort of public scrutiny and spotlight about which she asked--she implored--Senator Feinstein: Please, protect me from that sort of environment.

We could have done so if it had been handled the right way. Our colleagues across the aisle have simply refused to cooperate at all in the process. They called for an additional supplemental FBI background investigation, but when we tried to question witnesses at the staff level in a bipartisan way, they simply refused to participate.

None of them have said the obvious, which is that it is pretty odd that Dr. Ford's lawyers apparently didn't tell her that investigators volunteered to go to California to speak with her in private. It is downright strange that she didn't know she was being directed to Democratic lawyers and being sent off for polygraph examinations instead of being directed to the FBI or the Senate Judiciary Committee's professional staff.

Our colleagues across the aisle have never questioned that their allies' motives were anything less than perfectly righteous or pointed out the political convenience of any of this--that their assault on one man's integrity is convenient; in other words, that this has been self- serving for our friends across the aisle who were already committed to oppose the nomination, no matter what. None of this makes it any less callous.

So now we have agreed and the White House and the FBI have agreed to conduct a supplemental background investigation, something that could have been done months ago. It should have been done. It will last no more than 1 week, but it could take less time too. It is up to the FBI to determine who they believe they should interview for the supplemental background investigation, limited to up to a week and based on current and credible accusations. Those are the criteria.

Our colleague from Delaware and others during the hearing suggested that this period of time was sufficient. Back when we were discussing what was going to happen at the markup on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination last Friday, every single one of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said: Just give the FBI 1 more week, and that is what is happening.

But it will not make any difference. They are not persuadable. They have already made up their minds.

But it would not surprise me if at the end of the week, they raise their voices, which they have already begun to do, and move the goalposts, change their tune, find some fault with the FBI's investigation or the length of time in which it was conducted. I wouldn't be surprised because that is the way they have conducted themselves since the President announced Judge Kavanaugh as the nominee--always finding reason to delay, asking for something, and if they are given it, well, that is not enough.

Though I did not think an additional or supplemental background investigation was necessary, I am not opposed to the supplemental FBI investigation. What we already know is that the three people who Dr. Ford said were present at the party have all given sworn statements under penalty of felony saying: I don't remember, or it didn't happen, not in my presence. They are already under oath and can be prosecuted if they are not telling the truth.

I am not quite sure what the FBI is supposed to ask them after that, if they said: It didn't happen, or I don't remember, or it didn't happen; I wasn't there.

I am not sure what else they can really investigate, but I ultimately believe that given the state of the record, I don't believe the FBI supplemental background investigation will significantly alter the situation we find ourselves in currently. That situation is this: If the allegations we discussed during last week's hearing remain uncorroborated and unproven, if they never came up in the context of six or other FBI background checks, if they have been explicitly denied time and again by the nominee, if alleged eyewitnesses have no recollection of them and/or say they didn't happen, if they conflict with the accounts of many, many women who knew the nominee to behave honorably in high school, college, and law school and as a professional, and countless more women who have known and interacted with Judge Kavanaugh since, if the timing seems calculated, unusual, and politically motivated, and if our Democratic colleagues chose not to act on this opportunity when it was much more appropriate than now for them to do so, then there is simply no reason why we should not move forward. The die is cast, and it has been cast for quite a while.

A number of our colleagues announced against President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court before he was even identified, and a dozen or so more shortly after he was identified, without the benefit of any of the hearings that the American people have been a party to.

Move forward we will, soon, because we simply cannot in the United States of America establish a precedent by which any nominee can be derailed by last-minute, unproven accusations. If we do, then why would anyone want to subject themselves to this process? Anybody and everybody who is nominated to a Senate-confirmed position would be subjected to this same precedent once set: guilty until you prove your innocence.

Well, I wasn't there at the time that this was alleged. Well, you still have to prove a negative. You say you weren't there, but you still have to prove your innocence.

That is the opposite of what the presumption of innocence calls for. That is the opposite of what due process of law calls for. That is the opposite of what our constitutional system demands in fairness to everybody involved.

If that precedent were set--which I pray it will not be set--the only ammunition the opposition would need to shoot down any figure at any time would be innuendo, speculation, suspicion, and nothing more. We can't let that happen. We are not going to allow that to happen, and we are not going to set that kind of precedent.

It always seems that it is never quite enough to satisfy our colleagues across the aisle, particularly when it comes to the war over judicial confirmations and now the Kavanaugh nomination. It is always more, more, and more: Set the goalposts, move the goalposts, and backtrack from what you have agreed to, all in the interest of more delays, which provide more time for the unproven, uncorroborated smears on the character of the nominee and more pain and anguish for the family, who has to suffer along with the nominee and endure these malicious, false, and unproven allegations.

Where does it end? Well, it should end this week. The longer this goes on, you will find more attention seekers, more lawyers who want to see their name in lights or give media interviews and help their business, perhaps, I guess.

I think it is completely unfair that Judge Kavanaugh has been made into a pinata. Opponents to this nominee and the media are practically gleeful at taking another whack at him, completely oblivious to what they are putting this good man and his family and friends through.

I have always supported Judge Kavanaugh's nomination. I did when he was nominated to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and I do now because I know him to be an upstanding and well qualified individual.

I first met him back in the year 2000, as I mentioned, preparing for an argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, when I was Attorney General. I met Brett Kavanaugh because he was one of the best lawyers in Washington, DC, to help you get prepared to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

But it is not just my experience with Brett Kavanaugh. Everybody who has practiced with him has said that. Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State, who worked with him at the Bush White House, has said that. Other law professors and law clerks have said that. Hundreds of women who know him have said that. We know he has a brilliant legal mind, and we know his good work over the last 12 years on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Many cases where he has written the opinion of the court have been adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States, essentially, as the law of the land.

How do we know he will exercise the kind of care, temperament, and fairness that we would expect of a member of the U.S. Supreme Court? Because he already has for the last 12 years. He will judge those before him fairly and carefully.

Judge Kavanaugh belongs on the Nation's highest bench, and by the end of this week, it will be time to put him there. Enough is enough.

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