KAVANAUGH HEARING | Judiciary Committee sends Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to full Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) Judiciary Committee votes to send Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to full Senate.

1:40 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moments after Jeff Flake announced his support for Brett Kavanaugh, he was confronted with one of the consequences.

Two women cornered him as he got on an elevator Friday, pleading for him to reconsider his support for the Supreme Court nominee accused of sexual assault. The raw, emotional moment was caught on television, capturing the charged atmosphere in the Capitol as senators prepare to vote.

“Look at me and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me,” said 23-year-old Maria Gallagher.

A day earlier, the senators heard hours of testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor who told them Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were teenagers. Kavanaugh strongly denied the allegation in hours of bombastic testimony.

Flake had lobbied Republican leaders to give Ford the chance to speak. He was viewed as a possible no vote, until the announcement Friday morning.

The senator was on his way to the Senate Judiciary Committee as the two women, who are both affiliated with advocacy groups, told him they were sexual assault survivors.

“On Monday, I stood in front of your office,” Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the nonprofit Center for Popular Democracy Action, told Flake. “I told the story of my sexual assault. I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford’s story that she is telling the truth. What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court.”

Archila, 39, appeared to block the Arizona senator from closing the elevator door.

Then Gallagher said: “I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me. I didn’t tell anyone, and you’re telling all women that they don’t matter, that they should just stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them you are going to ignore them.”

“That’s what happened to me, and that’s what you are telling all women in America, that they don’t matter,” she said through tears.

She begged Flake to look her in the eye. She said: “Don’t look away from me.”

Flake, cornered in the elevator, shifted between looking at them and looking down. He said, “Thank you,” but didn’t response to questions on whether he believed Ford’s testimony.

When a reporter asked whether he wanted to respond to the women’s questions, he said no.

“I need to go to the hearing. I just issued a statement. I’ll be saying more as well,” he said.

12:30 p.m.

The dean of Yale Law School is calling for additional investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate votes on his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dean Heather Gerken said in statement Friday that she agrees with the American Bar Association that more investigation is needed. Gerken said proceeding with the confirmation process without more review is not in the best interest of the Supreme Court or the legal profession.

Kavanaugh received his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination Friday afternoon. A vote in favor will send the nomination to the full Senate.

Kavanaugh denies allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that he assaulted her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh says he’s never sexually assaulted anyone.

11:25 a.m.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh gained the support of a key Republican senator Friday, virtually ensuring his nomination will advance to the full Senate a day after he adamantly denied the high-school-years sexual assault of a woman who testified she was “100 percent” he was guilty.

The vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee was set for 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley announced as the panel gaveled to order. Emotions running high, several Democratic senators walked out for a time in protest.

Moments before the panel convened, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a member of the panel, announced he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh, who he said was entitled to the “presumption of innocence ... absent corroborating evidence.”

“While some may argue that a different standard should apply regarding the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities, I believe that the Constitution’s provisions of fairness and due process apply here as well,” Flake said. “I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”

Tensions were high inside and outside the hearing room and protesters swarmed Capitol Hill. Two women cornered Flake in an elevator and, through tears, implored him to change his mind.

“Frankly, we’ve reached a point where it’s time end the circus,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in opening remarks. “It’s time to show some dignity around here. It’s time to vote.”

As soon as the committee opened, Democrats offered a motion to subpoena Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh who Ford testified was a witness to the alleged assault.

Judge has said he does not recall the incident, and the motion offered by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. was blocked by Republicans in a vote. Blumenthal and several other Democrats, including Kamala Harris of California and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, then walked out of the hearing room.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said it was like the potential witness had “effectively nailed a do not disturb sign, and apparently the Republicans on this committee are satisfied.”

Leahy said it’s not that Democrats are trying to delay the nomination ahead of the midterm elections as Republicans contend. “This is about doing our job,” he said.

One Democrat not on the committee, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, added his name to the opposition. Nelson, who faces a tough re-election this fall in the swing state, announced Friday he was voting against Kavanaugh.

Meanwhile, there were signs that Thursday’s remarkable testimony before the panel — in which Kavanaugh angrily declared his innocence and Ford calmly recounted the moment in which she says he attacked her — had registered negatively with two organizations whose support Kavanaugh had earlier received.

The American Bar Association, which previously gave Kavanaugh its highest rating of “well qualified,” asked the Senate committee and the full Senate to delay their votes until the FBI could do a full background check on the assault claims — something President Donald Trump has refused to order. Grassley, too, has refused.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed that Friday, telling reporters that Kavanaugh has already “been through six separate background investigations by the FBI.”

Late Thursday, the magazine of the Jesuit religious order in the United States withdrew its endorsement of Kavanaugh, saying the nomination was no longer in the interests of the country and “should be withdrawn.”

“If Senate Republicans proceed with his nomination, they will be prioritizing policy aims over a woman’s report of an assault,” the “America” editors wrote. “Were he to be confirmed without this allegation being firmly disproved, it would hang over his future decisions on the Supreme Court for decades and further divide the country.”