Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join in opposition to Judge Kavanaugh and call on my colleagues to join me in voting against this mad dash to jam through a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Last week, Democrats and Republicans stood together to ask Republican leaders to allow the bare minimum--an FBI investigation into the new allegations that have come in. This wasn't an unreasonable request. It happens all the time with nominees and for far less important positions than a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. It is the very least that should be done when serious allegations like these remain, to make sure we are hearing from all relevant witnesses and bringing all relevant information in for consideration, but this simply has not happened.

This morning, I went in for a briefing on the new FBI investigation, and it was very clear to anyone who reviewed the material that Senate Republican leaders and President Trump cut the FBI off and refused to allow them to conduct the comprehensive and thorough investigation that was promised to Democrats and Republicans.

Instead, this was rigged from the start to protect Judge Kavanaugh because here is what we know, and this has been reported in the press: Dr. Ford was not interviewed despite her repeated requests. We know Judge Kavanaugh was not questioned. We have heard from so many other witnesses who were desperate to talk to the FBI--desperate--because they had relevant information they wanted to share in confidence. As far as we know, they were never even contacted, and now Senators had to line up to read a single copy of a limited FBI report over the course of today. We are not allowed to share what we saw or take notes out of the room, and we are not permitted to ask the FBI agents who actually conducted the investigation any questions.

Although I am not permitted to share what I heard and read in the briefing, I can say absolutely nothing I saw makes me believe Dr. Ford any less, and, in fact, based on what I saw, I am even more concerned about the veracity of some of what we heard from Judge Kavanaugh.

Even more important than anything we saw was how much we were not able to see because the investigation was limited. Once again, the voices of women and their experiences have been silenced and pushed aside.

So the questions everyone should be asking right now are, What are Republican leaders so afraid the FBI would find if they were allowed to take the full week to truly conduct a thorough investigation and talk to all of the relevant witnesses? What are they trying to hide, and why will they not allow this to be done right when we are talking about a nomination to the highest Court in the land?

So I come to the floor to make three points to urge my colleagues to vote no and stop this mad dash to a rushed confirmation.

First, I am going to talk about what we know about the serious and credible allegations against Judge Kavanaugh by Dr. Ford and others; second, I am going to run through, once again, the serious credibility problems that have been raised regarding Judge Kavanaugh; and finally, I will highlight, once again, the real temperament concerns so many of us have based on what we saw from Judge Kavanaugh at the last hearing.

First and foremost, I believe Dr. Ford. She has absolutely no reason to lie, and she had no interest in making this public before she was compelled to, citing her civic duty. We all saw her at the hearing, and like so many people across the country, I was riveted, and I watched with tears in my eyes. Dr. Ford was so brave and compelling. She was so real. The memories she recounted were heartbreaking; the fear she felt when she was being attacked; the relief she felt when she finally made it out of the house; the laughter between Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge she will never forget; the fact that she is 100 percent sure it was Brett Kavanaugh who attacked her.

Millions of people watched her, and so many women and survivors were inspired by her bravery. Dr. Ford made a credible allegation of a serious offense that needs to be taken seriously.

We have also heard from other women--Ms. Ramirez, Ms. Swetnick--with their own experiences to share. They should be listened to. They should be heard. We should presume they are telling the truth, and Republican leaders should allow a full investigation into their allegations because, in the end, despite what some Republicans tried to claim, this is not a trial. We are not supposed to weigh evidence and make judgment about innocence or guilt. Our job as Senators is to weigh what we know, weigh what we hear, weigh what we learn, and use our own judgment to determine whether a nominee deserves a promotion to the highest Court in the land. Based on everything I know about the allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh, he should not be confirmed, and he should not be in a position to make decisions on the Supreme Court that impact women and families and the future of our country, which takes me to my second point: Judge Kavanaugh's serious credibility issues.

I went through this in some detail on the floor yesterday. I will not go through all of it again, but time and again, in his initial hearing and then even further in his second hearing, Judge Kavanaugh made it clear he has serious issues with the truth.

He testified under oath directly to Senators and made claims that simply defy belief on issues big and small. Again and again, he made claims that were contradicted either through emails that were uncovered or from others who felt compelled to come forward after hearing what he said that simply did not align with what they knew to be true.

If we can't trust what he has said to us on those issues, if we know some of what he said is simply false, how can we trust him on so many other issues? Surely, the least we can expect from someone nominated to serve on our Nation's highest Court has a basic commitment to honesty and truth, especially while under oath. This shouldn't be a partisan issue. It is just common sense, which brings me to the third point I want to make.

Like so many people watching last week's hearing, I was shocked by Judge Kavanaugh's raw anger, his rage, disrespect, sense of entitlement, and sneering condescension; from his apparent bafflement that he even had to respond to credible allegations against him to his attempt to throw questions back at Senators, asking them instead of actually answering them himself, to his open partisanship, his bitterness, to his rage and anger, and so much more.

I cannot imagine any Senator seeing what we saw in that hearing, watching a nominee make a display like that and thinking this person is fit to serve as an impartial judge on our Nation's highest Court.

I know President Trump loved Judge Kavanaugh's performance. It seemed to inspire him to move from calling Dr. Ford a credible witness to openly mocking and attacking her, and it sounds like it has galvanized him to fight even harder for the man whose anger and defensiveness he clearly identifies so closely with.

I thought it was truly awful. It was not the kind of temperament we should want on the Supreme Court, and I can only hope enough of our colleagues agree.

Once again, I believe Dr. Ford, and, to me, Judge Kavanaugh has shown so clearly he does not have the temperament or credibility to serve on the Supreme Court, but for any of my colleagues who may not be persuaded and have bravely stood up to ask for more information and a thorough investigation and for all of us who believe the Senate should do its job and get this right, we can't rush this to a finish line.

A truly thorough investigation must be completed, as promised, so Senators hear from all the relevant witnesses and gather all the relevant information before we cast a vote on this confirmation. It can be done quickly, but it has to be done right because if this does end up being jammed through, as apparently currently Republican leaders intend to do, it will completely undermine the public's trust and the credibility of the Supreme Court as information continues to come out from investigations that will continue whether or not he is confirmed. It will eliminate any remaining trust people have in Senate Republican leaders to allow us to fulfill our constitutional advice and consent role and not just be a rubberstamp for the President, and it will cause tremendous anger and backlash across the country from those who are shocked to see the voices of women and survivors ignored like this.

I ran for the Senate after I saw what happened to Anita Hill in 1991. Based on everything I am seeing and hearing across the country, all the anger and energy and focus, I am confident that if women and their voices are attacked, undermined, and disrespected once again, we are going to see a wave of anger and frustration and activism that makes 1992 look like a ripple. We still have time to do this right. We still have time to do better than the Senate did in 1991. We still have time to restore the public's faith that women will be listened to.

I urge my colleagues to join me, vote no tomorrow, and end this mad dash to confirmation.

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