because they came out opposing him before his name was even placed in nomination by the president. this has always been about the far left wing of the democrat party doing as they've described it, whatever it takes to push their talking points. it's now all about the politics of personal destruction. don't seem to care much about what they do and how they damage the people involved. don't care about the damage they're doing in the senate, the damage they're doing to the supreme court. the american people deserve better than this. it's time for the democrats to end their charade before they do more harm to the senate, to the supreme court, and to the united states of america. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor.

>> mr. president, one out of four women in this country have been a victim of sexual assault. this is an epidemic and it tells me, and i think the vast majority of the american people that we need a culture change in the way boys and men respond to women. last night president of the united states, instead of understanding that we have to change our culture, instead of understanding that we've got to make it easier for women who have been victims of sexual assault to come forward and tell their stories, got up on a podium in mississippi and mocked dr. ford, made fun of

her. here is a woman who has come forward to do what she thought was right, as an american citizen understanding from day one that she would be attacked by political opponents and the result of her having come forward was that she has received death threats, she's been separated from her children, she's had nazis protesting outside her house. that's what she has gone through. and the president's response to her courage is to mock her, to make fun of her. now, what kind of message does that send to women and men all over this country, i am with who are struggling to determine

whether, when they come forward, they will be laughed at, they will be rejected? the president of the united states should lead this country in changing that type of culture, making it easier for women to come forward and tell their stories. making it clear to boys and men that in this country, that type of behavior is unacceptable. and yet, we had a leader of our country, a president of the united states mocking this woman and i would hope that every member of this chamber, regardless of your feelings about kavanaugh, come forward and express disgust and outrage at the behavior of president trump with regard to dr. ford.

the president, a number of my republican colleagues have come forward and said, you know, at the very beginning of this process, well before the allegations of sexual assault, or the veracity of mr. kavanaugh, there were people who were coming forward saying they were opposed to the nomination. i plead guilty. i was one of those people. and i announced my opposition to judge kavanaugh probably a day after trump made that nomination. and let me tell you exactly why i came out early against judge kavanaugh. and the reason is that for years now there has been a hard right, 5-4 majority on the supreme court who have time and time again made rulings that

represented the wealthy and the powerful, rulings against the interests of working families, women, the environment, children, and the poor. ... part of that hard right majority. and i should tell you now based on the last hearing that took place before the judiciary committee where we saw mr. kavanaugh's politics come right out. my initial judgment turned out to be exactly right. if he is seated he will be part of a hard right, a hard right that ruled on citizens united,

that billionaires in america have the right to undermine our democracy and spent as much money as they want to electing candidates who represent the wealthy and the powerful. and i fear that if kavanaugh is on the supreme court he will take citizens united even further. we have a hard right on the supreme court by a 5-4 vote that gutted the voting rights act. an act designed to protect minorities from discrimination in terms of their ability to vote. and literally the day after that decision came down, you had republican governors and attorneys general all over this country working overtime, shamefully, cowardly to make it harder for poor people, people

of color, young people to vote. and i have no doubt that if mr. kavanaugh is seated, he will be part of that hard right philosophy. so i apologize to no one for within one day of that nomination saying that i was opposed to it. now, that's my view. obviously many of my republican colleagues, maybe some democrats, did not reach that conclusion. however, in the past three months and especially in the past few weeks we have heard credible accusations of sexual assault by several women. these are charges that must be thoroughly and seriously investigated by the fbi.

now, if confirmed, judge kavanaugh will have a lifetime seat on the supreme court, a lifetime seat. and yet we have the republican leader and other members saying we have to rush this process along. we have to give the fbi just a few days in order to complete their investigation. because, my goodness, we have got to fill the empty seat on the supreme court. now, how hypocritical is that? let me remind my colleagues that less than two and a half short years ago following the death of justice scalia, my republican colleagues simply refused to even consider president obama's

nomination of merrick garland for a seat on the supreme court. and they left that seat open for ten months until they got a republican president. so if you could wait for ten months to fill that empty seat, i think you can wait a few weeks more for us to do a thorough investigation. of the charges of the allegations against judge kavanaugh. mr. president, we are dealing not only with judge kavanaugh's right-wing political philosophy. we are dealing here not only with the serious allegations of sexual assault, which have to be thoroughly investigated. we are dealing with another very important issue, and that is the issue of veracity, whether or

not judge kavanaugh was honest and truthful in terms of his responses to questions asked of him recently in years before when you came before the judiciary committee. -- when he came before. i have heard colleagues say rightfully that regardless of philosophy if somebody lies to a u.s. senate committee, that person should not be seated. so what we need right now, not in a few days, we need a thorough investigation not only of the charges, the allegations of sexual assault, but also issues of whether or not judge kavanaugh has been honest when he came before the judiciary committee. let me give you just a few

examples of what i i mean that need to be explored. it is previous testimony before the committee, judge kavanaugh was asked more than 100 times if he knew about files stolen by republican staffers from judiciary committee democratic staffers. he said he knew nothing, didn't know anything about it when he was in the bush white house. yet e-mails released as part of these hearings show that these files were regularly shared with kavanaugh while he was on the bush white house staff. in fact, one of indians had the subject line spine -- one of the e-mail -- yc telling the truth or was he like? we have to determine that. in 2006 judge kavanaugh told

congress that he didn't know anything about the nsa warrantless wiretapping program prior to it being reported by the "new york times." this year an e-mail revealed that while at the white house he might've been involved in some conversations about this program. was judge kavanaugh telling the truth in his response to the committee? in 2004 judge kavanaugh testified that the nomination of william prior to the 11th circuit court, quote, was not one but it worked on personally come in court. again when he in the bush white house. documents now contradict that statement. newly released documents also called into question whether judge kavanaugh was truthful that the nomination of charles pickering, quote, was not one of the judicial nominees i was primarily handling them in court. was he telling the truth?

and if he is not telling the truth on these issues, does that tell us something about the character of this man who wants to take a seat on the supreme court? 2006 judge kavanaugh testified, who, i was not involved in and not involved in the questions about the rules governing detention of combatants, end quote. new evidence released as part of his confirmation hearings contradicts that assertion. additionally, now, those are issues not dealing with the allegations of sexual assault, but in terms of the recent allegations, judge kavanaugh repeatedly told the committee that he never drank to the point of where he didn't remember something. he also denied ever becoming aggressive when he drinks. this is not efficient whether somebody drinks or not.

millions of people drink. this is an issue of whether or not he was being honest in his responses. there have, as you know, been a number of reports from those people that judge kavanaugh attended high school with, and college of law school with, they contradict his assertion about his drinking habits. judge kavanaugh himself in a 2001 e-mail referenced growing aggressive, aggressiveness during a weekend vacation, but that he didn't remember. again, the issue here is not drinking. the issue is his veracity. was he telling the truth. on another issue judge kavanaugh testified that he treated women quote his friends and equals unquote and with dignity and respect. numerous entries in a school yearbook would seem to suggest otherwise. was judge kavanaugh statements to the committee truthful?

begin, whether you like his philosophy or you don't, it is important for us to ascertain the veracity of his testimony. judge kavanaugh claims that he and dr. ford quote did not travel in the same social circles, end quote. dr. ford says she dated chris garrett, reference as a parent interview book. in fact, she testified garrett introduced her to kavanaugh. kavanaugh claimed numerous times in response to dr. ford's allegations that quote, all four witnesses say it didn't happen, and that witnesses refuted dr. ford story. yet one of the witnesses simply said she didn't remember the party in question took place decades ago, but that, in fact, she believed dr. ford. kavanaugh testified that quote no connections to jail but, in fact, he was a legacy student whose grandfather attended the

school. have also claims that he had no idea that his mental and good friend alex kozinski with sexual harassing his clerks and creating a hostile work environment. but it was such his behavior with such an open secret that some law schools were warning potential applicants to stay away from kaczynski. kavanaugh claims he is not on kaczynski infamous e-mail list but refused to even searches e-mails to double check. was judge kavanaugh telling the truth about his relationship with judge kaczynski? mr. president, these are very, very serious issues. millions of americans are deeply involved and concerned about these issues, issues not only about veracity, issues about sexual harassment of women,

issues about veracity. this is a question that we've got to get to the bottom of. we do not need artificial time limitations. let us do it right before we cast a vote on judge kavanaugh. with that idea before. >> mr. president, across the country women and survivors are angry. they are energized and they're making their voices heard. they are inspired i dr. ford, and they are sharing stories of their own, often of the worst moments of their lives, and some for the first time ever with your families, with their friends and with their senators. there are too many to share in one speech here on the center for but i want to touch on just a few. i heard from a woman in washington state who wrote to me saying, and i