- Senate Democrats want to delay the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in light of Michael Cohen pleading guilty to two federal crimes he said he committed during the 2016 election "at the direction" of then-candidate Donald Trump.
- They argue that a president implicated in a federal criminal case should not be able to nominate a Justice to the Supreme Court who could potentially rule on Trump's criminal liabilities.
- A spokesman for Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley said confirmation hearings are scheduled to proceed as planned.
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Senate Democrats want to put the brakes on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation in light of Michael Cohen's plea deal
A number of Senate Democrats want to slow the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court after Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes — and said he committed two of them during the 2016 election at the behest of then-candidate Trump
A number of Senate Democrats want to put the brakes on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court after President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes — and said he committed two of them "at the direction" of Trump.
Specifically, Cohen said in his guilty plea hearing that he violated corporate contribution and campaign finance laws "at the direction" of then-candidate Trump with the express intent of influencing the election. The contributions are believed to have helped kill negative stories about Trump's alleged affairs with porn star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal.
"I have cancelled my meeting with Judge Kavanaugh," she tweeted. "[Trump], who is an un-indicted co-conspirator in a criminal matter, does not deserve the courtesy of a meeting with his nominee — purposely selected to protect, as we say in Hawaii, his own okole." (Okole roughly translates to "ass" in Hawaiian).
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Other lawmakers who weighed in included Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
Senate Democrats have previously scrutinized Judge Kavanaugh, who is currently a federal judge for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, on some of his previous legal writings supporting a strong executive and arguing that a sitting President should not be criminally prosecuted or civilly sued while in office.
Jeffrey Cohen, an attorney and partner at Cohen & Goldstein in New York City, told Business Insider he thought it highly unlikely for Chairman Grassley to slow down proceedings for Kavanaugh's confirmation unless the House brought impeachment proceedings or Mueller released a report implicating Trump even further.
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