Some of the most moderate Republican Senators are unconvinced by the woman who came forward to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school.
Both Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) have deep reservations about believing the eleventh-hour attacks that have delayed—and possibly derailed—Kavanaugh’s appointment to the top court.
Graham joined Sean Hannity on Monday night, to discuss the allegations, made by biology professor Christine Blasey Ford.
“If Miss Ford really did not want to come forward, never intended to come forward, never planned to come forward, why did she pay for a polygraph in August and why did she hire a lawyer in August if she never intended to do what she’s doing?” Graham wondered. “And who’s paid for it?”
Collins, too, expressed skepticism—and slammed her Democratic colleagues for mishandling the situation, and waiting until the last minute to make the allegations public.
“What is puzzling to me is the Democrats, by not bringing this out earlier, after having had this information for more than six weeks, have managed to cast a cloud of doubt on both the professor and the judge,” Collins said, in an interview with The New York Times.
“If they believed Professor Ford, why didn’t they surface this information earlier so that he could be questioned about it?” she added. “And if they didn’t believe her and chose to withhold the information, why did they decide at the 11th hour to release it? It is really not fair to either of them the way it is was handled.”
Collins is expected to be one of the most likely Republican Senators that Democrats could convince to vote against Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh’s vote, which was expected for later this week, has been delayed.