It Looks Like Brett Kavanaugh Just Committed Perjury - For the Dumbest Reason Ever

It Looks Like Brett Kavanaugh Just Committed Perjury - For the Dumbest Reason Ever
Matthew Chapman
and
 AlterNet
September 27, 2018

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the sexual assault allegation by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) closed out her line of questioning with a simple query: "Did you watch Dr. Ford's testimony?"

"I did not," replied Kavanaugh. "I plan to, but I did not. I was preparing mine."

It would not have been surprising if Kavanaugh had decided not to watch Ford's testimony. When Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, he did not bother to watch her hearing either.

But in fact, it turns out Kavanaugh might be lying.

At least, he is lying if you believe a Senate Judiciary staffer who told the Wall Street Journal earlier today that Kavanaugh had been among a group of people watching Ford's testimony from a monitor in the Dirksen Senate Office Building:

If this aide is correct, then Kavanaugh's response would constitute perjury.

Throughout the confirmation process, Kavanaugh has been accused of lying under oath to the Senate, both in his current testimony and his testimony when he was being confirmed to the D.C. Court of Appeals in 2006. Emails and documents suggest Kavanaugh was not truthful to the committee about his knowledge or involvement, as White House staff secretary in the Bush administration, of CIA torture, warrantless surveillance, the theft of emails by White House employees from Democratic Senate offices, and the judicial nominations of William Pryor or Charles Pickering. He may also have misled the Senate about violating grand jury secrecy laws during his time leading the Vince Foster investigation in the 1990s. Legal experts, however, have suggested that in these lies, Kavanaugh probably hedged his word choice enough to avoid perjuring himself.

If the Senate aide is correct here, however, this would appear to be a much starker lie, about something that happened just hours before.

If so, Kavanaugh would have gotten himself in hot water over the dumbest, most pointless issue imaginable.

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

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