House judiciary committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Monday that the House has its "hands full with impeaching the president" and won't immediately open an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI |
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Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The House judiciary committee does not immediately have the time or resources to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh due to its ongoing efforts to impeach President Donald Trump, Chairman Jerry Nadler said Monday.
During a radio interview on WNYC, Rep. Nadler, D-N.Y., responded to a question about whether Democrats might feel the committee is not taking the most recent allegations against Kavanaugh seriously by stating it is focusing its efforts on Trump for the immediate future.
"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," Nadler said.
Nadler said he believes impeaching Trump is "imperative" for Democrats to "vindicate the Constitution" and although he thinks there is enough information to impeach the president, the committee must educate the public before moving forward with the process.
"We have to show that there are adequate grounds for impeachment, that there are imperative grounds for impeachment and convince people," he said. "If that happens, if people are convinced after the hearings that the president should be impeached, then we will be able to get the votes. If that doesn't happen, we won't be able to get the votes."
Potential presidential candidates including Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and other Democrats have called for Kavanaugh to be impeached.
The allegations against Kavanaugh stem from an excerpt of a new book titled The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation by reporters Kate Kelly and Robin Pogrebin that was published in The New York Times. The book re-examines an allegation raised during Kavanaugh's Supreme Court hearings and reveals a new allegation of sexual impropriety during his time at Yale in the early 1980s.
The report said former Yale classmate Max Stier told senators and the FBI about an episode of alleged sexual misconduct that was not investigated.
Nadler said the committee plans to question FBI Director Christopher Wray next month about the investigation into allegations against Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice in October after the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from the nominee and Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school.
