Kavanaugh in 2000: Congress had 'constitutional duty' to investigate president

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Politico

Kavanaugh in 2000: Congress had 'constitutional duty' to investigate president

By ELANA SCHOR 08/01/2018 05:11 AM EDT

Brett Kavanaugh said that Congress had ceded its "constitutional duty" to investigate former President Bill Clinton to an independent counsel during an event in 2000, remarks that give Democrats new fodder to tar the Supreme Court nominee as potentially partial to President Donald Trump in any future showdown with special counsel Robert Mueller.

A partial videotape of Kavanaugh's comments during a Duke University discussion on the Clinton impeachment, obtained by the office of Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and shared with POLITICO, represents his fourth public statement thus far that Congress should play the primary role in investigating a sitting president -- rather than an independent counsel.

Kavanaugh's past skepticism that a sitting president can be indicted, though it comports with previous Justice Department opinions, is a major flashpoint for Democrats who warn that his confirmation would give Trump a reliable ally if Mueller's Russia investigation sparks a legal showdown with the White House that goes all the way to the high court.

In his 2000 comments at Duke, Kavanaugh drew on his experience on Kenneth Starr's staff during the independent counsel's investigation of Clinton to ding Congress for opting, "in abdication of their constitutional duty," to hold off on their own inquiry while Starr finished his work. ... "In the old days, if you had a serious allegation against the president -- and there was a common understanding that the president could not be indicted while he was in office -- the Congress of the United States would look into the allegation immediately and would get the facts. They can depose witnesses and find out the truth," Kavanaugh said at the time.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/01/kavanaugh-independent-counsel-clinton-booker-754587

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WouldOrWouldn'tHat Retweeted

https://twitter.com/Popehat

New: Booker surfaces a previously unseen Kavanaugh video from 2000, in which he says Congress waited for Starr to investigate Clinton "in abdication of their constitutional duty."

Link to tweet

[Scarsdale]

1. He only meant this

to apply to democratic presidents. Anyone would know that! The rules do not apply to gop. Jeez, people, don't you know anything about these republicans? Next we will find out he has been cheating on his straight laced republican wife, against the gop "family values". We already know about his maxed out credit cards, which were mysteriously paid off.

[olegramps]

2. Was that Duke University or David Duke School of Prejudice?

[vi5]

3. We really need to stop focusing on the right's hypocrisy

It's wasted time, energy, and effort. They know they are hypocrites. They don't care that they are hypocrites. They care that they are winning and that they are getting what they want.

[turbinetree]

4. How much did the Federalist Society pay him to say this ..................shit.........

"New: Booker surfaces a previously unseen Kavanaugh video from 2000, in which he says Congress waited for Starr to investigate Clinton "in abdication of their constitutional duty."


Hey Kavanaugh.....................have your ever heard of "due process" so you think there zippy, that a politically charged Congress within a majority should be the ones that hold an investigation and that a independent investigator that is away from the shenanigans is a waste of time............................your fucking dangerous, you don't want any transparency, let me repeat this, you don't want any transparency.........................you know they have your train of thought in third world dictatorships......................

Let me repeat what I just said they have third world justice that your speaking about in authoritarian directorship..................your fucking dangerous and you sit on the bench now......you really have no morals / principles to the rule of law .............and some orange hair megalomaniac and his cronies in the senate want to put you there..............






November 2018 cannot get here fast enough.......................vote