Over the weekend, several 2020 Democratic candidates called for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to be removed from the bench following a new allegation of sexual misconduct against him.
After the New York Times published a previously unreported account from a former Yale student alleging that Kavanaugh had pushed his penis into a female classmate’s hand, Julian Castro was the first candidate to advocate for Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
“It’s more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath,” Castro tweeted on Saturday night. “He should be impeached.”
It’s more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath. He should be impeached.
And Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter. https://t.co/Yg1eh0CkNl
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) September 15, 2019
Other Democratic candidates followed suit the next day.
“Confirmation is not exoneration, and these newest revelations are disturbing,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted (D-MA). “Like the man who appointed him, Kavanaugh should be impeached.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who participated in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings with Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford last fall, also called for Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
“I sat through those hearings,” she tweeted. “Brett Kavanaugh lied to the U.S. Senate and most importantly to the American people.”
South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg said that Kavanaugh ought to be impeached if he doesn’t resign, according to a statement released to CNN reporter Dan Merica.
While Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) didn’t explicitly endorse impeachment, he did say he supported “any appropriate constitutional mechanism to hold [Kavanaugh] accountable.”
President Donald Trump responded to the Times report and Democrats’ subsequent calls for impeachment with fury.
“Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment,” Trump tweeted. “He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY.”
