Kavanaugh hearing runs red hot with partisan anger

Senator Orrin Hatch, of Utah, called the hearing a “national disgrace”, while Texas Senator John Cornyn said it was the most “embarrassing scandal for the US Senate since the McCarthy hearings” in the 1950s.

Fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, said Democrats’ treatment of Mr Kavanaugh was the “most despicable thing” he had seen in politics.

On the other side, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called the hearing fundamentally “unfair” to Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who says Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when both were in high school. Mr Kavanaugh denied the allegation.

Republicans assigned a female prosecutor to question Ms Ford on their behalf, even though “she’s not on trial”, Ms Gillibrand said.

She and other Democrats were outraged that Republicans did not force a high school friend of Mr Kavanaugh and other witnesses to testify under oath. Ms Ford says Mr Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge was present when the alleged attack occurred.

The charged atmosphere in the room was heightened by Mr Kavanaugh himself, who delivered what has to rank among the most combative testimony ever heard in a congressional hearing room.

As partisan as the nominating process has been, so too was the reaction.

In Mr Kavanaugh’s angry and tearful opening statement, supporters saw an expression of the frustration Republicans have felt since he was nominated by US president Donald Trump in July.

But Democrats said Mr Kavanaugh’s three-and-a-half-hour appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee raised more questions than it answered.

His testimony “had key gaps in substance and credibility”, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, and his frequent, angry outbursts “raised questions about his temperament”.

Still, most GOP senators were likely to stick with Mr Kavanaugh, especially without corroborating evidence from Ms Ford to back up her story. Mr Trump and Senate Republicans have resisted Democratic calls for an FBI investigation into Ms Ford’s claims.

The outcome largely sits where it has for weeks – on the shoulders of the few Republican senators who have not indicated how they will vote: Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona. But other senators already in the “yes” column could change their minds. Republicans control the Senate 51-49.

Mr Trump made clear he was sticking with Mr Kavanaugh, tweeting immediately after the hearing that Mr Kavanaugh’s testimony was “powerful, honest and riveting”.

He called Democrats’ “search and destroy strategy” disgraceful and said the process “has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct and resist”.

Ms Gillibrand, a long-time advocate for survivors of sexual violence, said the message Republicans were sending to sexual assault survivors — through the hearing and their support for Mr Kavanaugh — was, “We don’t believe you, your voice doesn’t matter and we don’t value you”.

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, pressed Mr Kavanaugh about his high school yearbook and the “drinking” and “sexual exploits” it mentions.

After Mr Kavanaugh talked about how he “busted his butt” on academics and played sports in high school, Mr Leahy said: “We got a filibuster but not a single answer.” Mr Leahy said after the hearing that Mr Kavanaugh’s answers were “well-rehearsed”.

Mr Graham blamed Democrats for the hearing’s partisan nature, saying they sat on allegations against Mr Kavanaugh for weeks and then sprung them on the nominee at the last minute in a desperate attempt to prevent his confirmation.

Democrats’ tactics were “the most unethical sham”, he said in a fiery speech.

Mr Hatch said the hearing was “worse” than the 1991 hearing for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — which Mr Hatch also participated in and which led to a surge in the number of women elected to Congress the next year.

“I didn’t think it could get any worse than that,” the veteran politician told Mr Kavanaugh. “This is a national disgrace, the way you’re being treated.”