Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley to file Brett Kavanaugh impeachment resolution
Democratic Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is introducing a resolution Tuesday calling for an impeachment inquiry into Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, amid new reports of allegations of sexual misconduct during his time in college.
In a statement, Pressley says it's "our responsibility to collectively affirm the dignity and humanity of survivors."
"Sexual predators do not deserve a seat on the nation's highest court and Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process set a dangerous precedent. We must demand justice for survivors and hold Kavanaugh accountable for his actions," she added.
Read the resolution here:
On Saturday, The New York Times published an essay adapted from a book excerpt that claimed one of Kavanaugh's Yale classmates allegedly saw him with his pants down at a drunken dorm party, with friends pushing his penis into a female student's hands, when Kavanaugh was a freshman. The woman refused to be interviewed and reportedly told friends she had no memory of such an incident.
Delaware Senator Chris Coons sent a letter to the FBI informing them of the allegation — an account from Kavanaugh's Yale classmate Max Stier — last October, just days before Kavanuagh was confirmed by the Senate. The FBI did not investigate the allegation or pursue any of the witness leads the accuser provided to back up the claims.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Ranking member on the Senate judiciary Committee, said she was copied on that letter with Coons and admonished the FBI for not pursuing the claims seriously.
"The FBI could have conducted an investigation that would have been seen as objective by both sides. Unfortunately it's now clear the FBI largely ignored these requests because the scope of its investigation was so constrained by the White House and Senate Republicans," she said in a statement Monday.
During Kavanaugh's confirmation process, another Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez, said Kavanaugh pulled down his pants at another drunken dorm party and thrust his penis at her. She said she swatted it away. In the Times essay, the reporters said they had found additional corroboration for Ramirez's story, with seven people saying they heard about the incident long before Kavanaugh became a federal judge.
The latest allegation has sparked a new round of criticism among Democrats over Kavanaugh's fitness for the High Court, a year after another accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, publicly testified about a high school encounter with Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearing. Kavanaugh has denied any sexual misconduct.
Now, at least five Democratic presidential candidates have lent their support to impeaching Kavanaugh. President Trump, meanwhile, stood by Kavanaugh and said the Justice Department should "rescue" him.
While an impeachment proceeding could be carried out much like the impeachment process for a sitting president, even if Democrats in the House voted to impeach Kavanaugh, there's virtually no chance of him being removed by the Republican-controlled Senate.