Rep. Jamie Raskin expects U.S. House lawmakers to delve into new allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during his college years.
Some Democratic presidential candidates and members of Congress have called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment after The New York Times published an essay over the weekend detailing the new allegations.
“I understand completely where it’s coming from. It’s an infuriating situation,” Raskin said Tuesday. The Maryland Democrat serves on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for impeachments of federal officials.
Raskin spoke to Maryland Matters as he and other Democrats prepared to question President Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, as part of what Democrats have labeled an impeachment investigation. Raskin said those proceedings are already taking up much of the committee’s time.
“We have to integrate the scandal of [Kavanaugh’s] appointment with everything else that we’re doing and that’s going to be complicated,” Raskin said. “But we’ll at least try to get to the truth of all of the witnesses and all the testimony that was excluded from the initial background investigation.”
He added that “one way or another,” House lawmakers “will get to the bottom of what was excluded from the background investigation.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a freshman Democrat from Massachusetts, planned to introduce a resolution on Tuesday calling on the Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Kavanaugh should be impeached, Politico reported.
But Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) told WNYC radio the committee has its “hands full with impeaching the president right now.” He pledged, however, to start looking into the new allegations against Kavanaugh.
Congressional Republicans, including members of the Judiciary Committee, have dismissed calls for impeachment proceedings against Kavanaugh.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said Tuesday, “Especially when it comes to Supreme Court justices, it’s really inappropriate to question their conduct after a confirmation hearing. I just think that kind of conduct came up, the senators took it into account, he was confirmed and I think it’s time to move on.”
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