The Senate Judiciary Committee will proceed to a planned vote on Supreme Court Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh Thursday, sources tell Breitbart News Monday.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is, according to these sources, refusing to yield to pressure over allegations of a high school attack revealed by Democrats over the weekend. Since July, Ranking Member Diane Feinstein (D-CA) had possession of a letter from California professor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, claiming that Kavanaugh and another teenager had forced her into a room at a 1982 party where Kavanaugh forced himself on her before she escaped.
Feinstein declined to introduce the letter at any point before or during the four-day public hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination, but went public after media reports of the letter began to surface.
The Republican leadership came under intense pressure not only from Senate Democrats, but from moderate Republicans like Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who indicated they would not vote for Kavanaugh without hearing Ford’s accusations out. Democrats like Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) explicitly took this as support for his call to delay the vote.
Two sources close to the confirmation process, however, told Breitbart News that Republicans will not yield to that pressure. One claimed the Thursday vote would occur “no matter what.” The other confirmed that Chairman Grassley remains “completely committed” to the originally scheduled Thursday vote.
Both sources also indicated Judge Kavanaugh will speak on a conference call with the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday night, where he will directly address Ford’s accusations. He has already twice categorically denied he attacked Ford and reports indicate he told Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Monday that he was not at the party in question.
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