Trump, Dems clash over impeachment of Kavanaugh

US President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponents have once again come to the blows over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who is faced with new sexual assault charges that some Democrats think are worthy of impeachment.

The brawl over impeaching Kavanaugh, whose confirmation process was overshadowed by sexual assault claims of his former classmates, was revived after The New York Times published excerpts of a new book containing details about sexual misconduct allegations that he has previously denied.

The Saturday article, adapted from a soon-to-be-published book, discussed in detail new allegations that Kavanaugh exposed himself to a female student at a party at Yale.

The story triggered widespread criticism among Democrats, with some 2020 candidates demanding his impeachment.

"Brett Kavanaugh lied to the US Senate and most importantly to the American people," California Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris wrote Sunday morning. "He was put on the Court through a sham process and his place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice."

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading the Democratic field, expressed concern about the issue on Sunday evening but stopped short of calling for impeachment.

Trump rushed to Kavanaugh’s defense, suggesting that the justice should start taking legal action against his accusers.

"Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue. The lies being told about him are unbelievable," Trump tweeted Sunday morning.

PressTV-2020 Democrats: Impeach Justice Kavanaugh like Trump

A number of Democratic presidential candidates have called for the impeachment of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh over sexual misconduct.

The clashes continued after the Times issued a correction to the article on Sunday, citing friends of the woman at the center of the alleged incident as saying that she didn’t remember sexual attack instance.

Another classmate of Kavanaugh who had claimed he witnessed the incident and reported it to the FBI, refused to publicly discuss the matter. 

Trump once again weighed in on the issue, this time saying the individuals involved in the Times story should resign, just like the people who were in charge of the publication’s coverage of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his campaign’s contacts with Russia – which he has notoriously called a “witch hunt.”   

“I call for the Resignation of everybody at The New York Times involved in the Kavanaugh SMEAR story, and while you’re at it, the Russian Witch Hunt Hoax, which is just as phony!” Trump wrote in a tweet on Monday.

“They’ve taken the Old Grey Lady and broken her down, destroyed her virtue and ruined her reputation … She can never recover, and will never return to Greatness, under current Management. The Times is DEAD, long live The New York Times!” he continued, referring to Blasey Ford.

The Republican head of state told reporters at the White House earlier Monday that the publication made a “terrible mistake” and proceeded with publishing a “false accusation” against the Supreme Court justice.

“To do that about a Supreme Court justice is a terrible thing,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. “It’s a false accusation.”

Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has pledged to file an impeachment resolution on Tuesday.

“Kavanaugh’s confirmation process set a dangerous precedent. We must demand justice for survivors and hold Kavanaugh accountable for his actions,” she said.

Senior Dems throw cold water on impeachment calls

Some senior members of the Democratic Party have since moved to snuff out calls for impeaching Kavanaugh.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin was the first to peak up, saying Monday that impeachment was not always the answer.

“Get real,” he said. “We’ve got to get beyond this ‘impeachment is the answer to every problem.’ It’s not realistic.”

The Illinois lawmaker warned that Democrats’ obsession with impeachment risked alienating the American public.

“If that’s how we are identified in Congress, as the impeachment Congress, we run the risk that people will feel we’re ignoring the issues that mean a lot to them as families,” he said.

Perhaps the strongest indication that an impeachment was not on the agenda came from House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, who said Monday that his committee was already focusing in impeaching Trump.

"We have our hands full with impeaching the president right now, and that’s going to take up our limited resources and time for a while," he said.

The House Judiciary Committee has restarted a background probe into Kavanaugh, asking the National Archives and Records Administration for thousands of pages of documents relating to the judge’s work in the under former President George W. Bush.

However, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, has made it clear that he will not help the Democratic-led House of Representatives even if they manage to start the impeachment process.

“I think [Democrats] continue to try to destroy Judge Kavanaugh’s life,” he said. “It’s going to blow up in their face, I hope. I feel bad for Brett and his family because this whole process is unseemly.”

Democrats will need to have full support of the Senate for impeaching Kavanaugh, which is unlikely given Republicans’ control over the chamber.

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