Breaking Down The Kavanaugh Hearings
With Meghna Chakrabarti
A special live broadcast with analysis following the testimonies of Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford.
Guests
David Savage, Supreme Court correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. (@DavidGSavage)
Mike Allen, co-founder and editor of Axios. (@mikeallen)
Ginger Gibson, political correspondent for Reuters. (@GingerGibson)
From The Reading List
CNN: “A day that will resonate in history” — “It could be one of those Washington days that define a political era.
“When Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh and his original accuser Christine Blasey Ford deliver dueling testimony on Thursday, they will conjure drama of an intensity unusual even in the Trump administration.
“Take it from the commander in chief himself, who said of a day steeped in political, legal and judicial consequences: ‘I think it’s going to be a very, very, important day in the history of our country,’ President Donald Trump said in New York on Wednesday evening.
“In Room 226 in the Dirksen Senate Office building, Kavanaugh will effectively stand trial after three women came forward with accusations about his conduct as a teenager in the alcohol-fueled youth party culture of the early 1980s.
“‘I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. This effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out,’ Kavanaugh will tell senators, while denying all the accusations against him, according to an advance excerpt of his remarks. Kavanaugh also denied new accusations released in Senate Judiciary Committee transcripts Wednesday night.
“But first, Ford will step forward to tell her story — exposing herself to the world, instantly becoming an icon of the social revolution unleashed by the #MeToo moment and putting her own reputation and her family’s safety at risk.”
NBC News: “What to know about the Brett Kavanaugh-Christine Blasey Ford Senate hearing” — “Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school, will testify for the first time publicly about her experience before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday — followed by testimony from Kavanaugh himself.
“The high-stakes hearing comes a day before the committee is expected to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, as scheduled by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Tuesday. Senate Republican leaders are aiming to hold a full Senate floor vote on the nomination by early next week, with the hopes that he would be confirmed and sworn in as a justice soon after the high court’s new term opens on Monday.” [Copyright 2018 NPR]
