McConnell: Senators were 'literally under assault' during Kavanaugh hearings
By MATTHEW CHOI
10/09/2018 07:14 AM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that Republican senators were "literally under assault" by a coordinated effort to intimidate them during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"These demonstrators — I'm sure some of them were well-meaning citizens, but many of them were obviously trained to get in our faces, to go to our homes up there, basically almost to attack us in the halls of the Capitol," McConnell (R-Ky.) said. "So there was a full-scale effort to intimidate as well as to eliminate fundamental notions of fairness and due process, such as the presumption of innocence."
McConnell made the comments at a news conference shortly before Kavanaugh's ceremonial swearing-in at the White House, bringing to a close one of the most contentious Supreme Court confirmations in the country's recent history.
Kavanaugh was confirmed Saturday by a 50-48 vote in the Senate despite allegations of sexual assault brought against him by multiple women and protests by thousands of people in Washington and around the country. In some cases, protesters in the Capitol confronted GOP lawmakers, holding open elevators to confront them and demand Kavanagh's rejection.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/09/mcconnell-kavanaugh-assault-881856
