Democrats realize that something extraordinary would have to happen for President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court to be rejected by the GOP-controlled Senate. So, they’ve decided to pull out all the stops and at least dirty him up, like they did Justice Clarence Thomas.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the panel, announced late Thursday that Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have asked John Dean, the White House counsel for President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, to speak “about the abuse of executive power.”
Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has been castigated by Democrats, who reject his view that a president cannot be investigated by a special counsel or held liable for criminal activity while in office. They’ve demanded millions of documents from his tenure as a staff secretary for President George W. Bush’s White House, even threatening to sue the National Archives to get them.
Liberal political pundits have dug deep to compare the current investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russia during the 2016 election to Watergate. Dean, who was deeply involved in the Watergate scandal, flipped on Nixon and cooperated with Senate Watergate investigators. Dean was fired by Nixon, then testified against him after being granted immunity.
Dean eventually pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and to supervising payments of “hush money” to the Watergate burglars. He served four months in prison and was disbarred.
Democrats say after the conviction of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the guilty plea by Trump’s longtime former lawyer Michael Cohen, the Kavanaugh hearings should be delayed.
“Given the possibility of criminal wrongdoing by the president, doubts that Judge Kavanaugh believes a president can even be investigated, and the unprecedented lack of transparency regarding this nominee’s record, we should not move forward with hearings on September 4th,” Democratic senators wrote last Friday.
But Republicans control the Senate so there’ll be no delay. Kavanaugh’s hearing is set for Tuesday.
Witnesses who will testify in favor of Kavanaugh include former Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. Also appearing will be Ted Olson, who served as Bush’s solicitor general and argued the Bush v. Gore case before the Supreme Court case.