POOL
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
1. Various of Brett Kavanaugh Senate hearing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Reporter:
"This is President Trump's second nominee to the court. And what was just really remarkable today was the outpouring of opposition. No sooner than the chairman of the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, he gaveled in the session and the session just completely erupted in chaos. There were Democratic senators calling for the session to be postponed. And there were protests coming from many people in the audience."
POOL
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
3. Various of hearing, protesters
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Reporter:
"One of the main things at issue has been the process here. Democrats are really complaining about the lack of documents from Kavanaugh's past service in the Bush White House. They are concerned that a number of documents have not been turned over as part of the vetting process. Now Chuck Grassley, the chairman, says you know, hundreds of thousands of documents have been made available to the committee, and that's true. But these are being made available on an unusual basis where they're coming directly from the Bush archives and separate from the traditional archive process. And many of those documents are being held back on a confidential basis. Either the committee is holding them back, or in one case, we saw just a few days ago the Trump administration, the White House held back 100,000 documents. Democrats are crying foul and saying this is just no way to vet somebody who will be having a lifetime confirmation on the court."
POOL
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chris Coons, (D) Delaware:
"To ranking member Feinstein's request, which she tried to craft with you to be identical to the request for records from Justice Kagan. We should not be proceeding until we have the full documents that allow us to review the judge's records."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Reporter:
"Kavanaugh really showed, you know, why a lot of people like him. He was a very personable, optimistic-looking person. He talked about his belief in the independence of the judiciary. And he really tried to tell the senators that he would be an independent broker here."
POOL
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
7. Wide, Kavanaugh at desk
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court nominee:
"A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Reporter:
"The judge in the past has talked about his view that any investigation of a sitting president is disruptive to the executive branch and should wait until after the president is out of office. He has experience here, Judge Kavanaugh had served on the team, Kenneth Starr's team, that was investigating former President Bill Clinton. And at the end of that, he really had sort of some second thoughts about investigating a sitting president. That of course is important now because President Trump and his team are under a lot of scrutiny from Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Russia probe. And so senators will be asking a lot of questions about the judge's views of executive power and whether he believes a sitting president can be investigated, can be forced to testify, or even if whether an indictment could be brought."
POOL
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
10. Wide of hearing
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois:
"And it's that president who's decided you are his man. You're the person he wants on the Supreme Court, you are his personal choice. So are people nervous about this? Are they concerned about it? Of course they are."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Reporter:
"The Senate Republicans have the majority here and they are eager to have Judge Kavanaugh confirmed in time for the start of the new Supreme Court session which begins October 1st. So they're looking to have the Senate finish up its work in the next couple weeks here and then have a confirmation vote on the floor of the Senate possibly by the end of September."
POOL
Washington, DC - 4 September 2018
13. Mid, Kavanaugh at desk
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court nominee:
"If confirmed to the Supreme Court, I will keep an open mind in every case. I will do equal right to the poor and to the rich. I will always strive to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the American Rule of Law."
15. Wide of hearing
AP Reporter Lisa Mascaro says the first day of a Senate hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was filled with opposition and chaos.
"There were Democratic senators calling for the session to be postponed. And there were protests coming from many people in the audience," Mascaro, who was inside the courtroom, said.
Democrats raised objections from the moment Chairman Chuck Grassley gaveled the committee to order. One by one, Democrats, including Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, all potential presidential contenders, demanded that Republicans delay the hearing. They railed against the unusual vetting process by Republicans that failed to include documents from three years Kavanaugh worked in the Bush administration, and 100,000 more pages withheld by the Trump White House. Some 42,000 pages were released to senators only, not the public, on the evening before the hearing.
In his statement, Kavanaugh touted the importance of an independent judiciary as his confirmation hearings began with strident Democratic criticism that he would be President Donald Trump's man on the high court.
On Wednesday, Kavanaugh can expect to spend most of the day in the hot seat, sparring with Democratic senators over abortion, guns, executive power and other high-profile issues.
A long day of questioning awaits the 53-year-old appellate judge, whom Trump nominated in July to fill the seat of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. The change could make the court more conservative on a range of issues.
Barring a surprise, Republicans appear on track to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, perhaps in time for the new term on Oct. 1 and little more than a month before congressional elections.
However, the first of at least four days of hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee began with partisan quarreling over the nomination and persistent protests from members of the audience, followed by their arrests.
Strong Democratic opposition to Trump's nominee reflects the political stakes for both parties in advance of the November elections, Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump's 2016 campaign and the potentially pivotal role Kavanaugh could play in moving the court to the right.
Democrats, including several senators poised for 2020 presidential bids, tried to block the proceedings in a dispute over Kavanaugh records withheld by the White House. Republicans in turn accused the Democrats of turning the hearing into a circus.
