Booker: Have any intermediaries?
Booker: People who helped you prepare for these hearings?
Kavanaugh: White House and DOJ people can speak for themselves about that.
Booker: Do you know if the people preparing you have been in touch with Bill Burck?
Kavanaugh: I do not know.
Booker: You never took a stand regarding release of documents?
Kavanaugh: No, I don't have a position.
Booker: What do you think?
Kavanaugh: I think it's an issue for the Senate.
Booker: You told Feinstein and Coons that you never took a position on constitutionality of indicting presidents. Do you stand by that?
Kavanaugh: That is my recollection.
Booker: Have you taken a position about the constitutionality of indicting a sitting president?
Booker: It's yes or no, you said no.
Booker is now having signs held up in which, he claims, Kavanaugh is expressing constitutional views.
Kavanaugh: Constitution clearly sets out process for removal. Question of criminal indictment is purely about timing.
Booker: You've talked about these issues quite a bit. You've commented on this multiple times.
Kavanaugh: It's important to know that the Justice Department has had this position.
Booker: You made clear that you've never spoken about these issues in a constitutional matter, but in your statements it seems that you are making speculations about constitutionality.
Kavanaugh: I promise you I have an open mind.
Booker: You speak about character. There are sources that keep track of the number of lies he tells.
Booker: You've spoken about the character of the president. Do you still think character matters?
Kavanaugh: I need to far away from political matters.
Booker: But that wasn't what you did as a Bush appointee. In your ceremonies, you were willing to comment about Bush and his character and said you had the greatest respect for him.
Booker: We have a president who has made a lot of statements. He said a federal job could not do his job because of his heritage. I could go on. Do you have the greatest respect, as you said about Bush, about Trump?
Kavanaugh: You don't hear sitting judges commenting...
Booker: I'm asking about what you said about Bush last time.
Kavanaugh: I need to stay away.
Booker: This president is asking for loyalty tests and is continuing to bash the attorney general.
Booker: What kind of loyalty is being required of you for this job? Apples to apples. What you said of Bush, why aren't you saying it of Trump?
Booker holds up chart with timeline of Trump nominee lists juxtaposed against timing of Mueller investigation.
Now Booker has a sign with an apparent timeline, with the suggestion that Mueller's investigation beginning is the reason Kavanaugh's name was on the third list of judges.
Booker: You are going mum about the character of this president. Do you believe if you agreed to recuse yourself, that he would not hold your nomination up?
Kavanaugh: I need to uphold the independence of the judiciary.
Booker: That's what this is about. You are the only judge who has spoken extensively about presidential investigations. The common person can suspect that there is something going on.
Booker: The suspicion is clearly there. Can you tell me why the common person would not sit back and think Trump has demanded loyalty? That casts a shadow over these whole processes.
Kavanaugh: My loyalty is to the Constitution. The Justice Department takes the position that sitting president may not be indicted. I have not taken a position on Constitutionality. And I have encouraged Congress to act.
Booker: I do respect you. You and I both know this is unusual times in the United States. We have a president under investigation and people around him being investigated. The test for all of us is coming, including the Supreme Court.
Booker: If we have a constitutional crisis in this country, it's important that the Supreme Court be above suspicion. Why not right now alleviate all suspicion that the reasonable person could have that you would recuse from all matters of the Mueller investigation?
Kavanaugh: If I commit to a position ...
Booker: This is so that you don't have to commit to a position.
Kavanaugh: If I committed to deciding a particular case, including whether I would participate, I would demonstrate that I do not have the independence necessary to be a good judge.
Sen. Tillis, D-N.C., now up.
He is introducing various documents from Democrats praising Kavanaugh and arguing against using the Mueller investigation from holding up the nomination.
Submit Event
