Democrats are demanding Brett Kavanaugh's impeachment over a new sexual misconduct allegation

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Democrats are demanding Brett Kavanaugh's impeachment over a new sexual misconduct allegation

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Brett Kavanaugh

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Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh was asked to explain words in from his high school yearbook in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.

  • The New York Times reported Saturday that a former college classmate of Kavanaugh tried to tip off US senators and the FBI last year to another previously unreported sexual misconduct allegation.
  • Democratic lawmakers and 2020 hopefuls called for Kavanaugh to be impeached in the wake of the allegation. 
  • Sens. Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar pointed to Kavanaugh's confirmation last October that was finalized after a tumultuous battle over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct he faced, saying it was a "sham."
  • Democrats have reportedly been weighing the best path for contesting Kavanaugh's place on the court since his confirmation, but legal fights to reveal potentially damaging records have been projected to take years. 
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Democratic lawmakers and 2020 hopefuls called for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to be impeached after a new allegation of sexual harassment surfaced. 

The New York Times reported that a former college classmate of Kavanaugh tried to tip off US senators and the FBI last year to another previously unreported sexual misconduct allegation.

"Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment," he wrote. "He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him."

"They want to scare him into turning Liberal," Trump added.

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California Sen. Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter Sunday morning recalling her time on the Senate Judiciary Committee through Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, which she slammed as a "sham process" where "Kavanaugh lied to the US Senate and...to the American people." 

Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court last October after a tumultuous battle over the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct he faced.

The Times reported that Max Stier, a former Yale student said he saw Kavanaugh at a drunken dorm party where his friends pushed his penis into a female student's hands. Kavanaugh was reportedly a freshman at the time of the incident.

Stier's account bears similarities to an allegation made by Deborah Ramirez, another Yale classmate who accused Kavanaugh of pulling his pants down and thrusting his penis in her face at a different dorm party.

Read more: Trump said Brett Kavanaugh 'should start suing people' over new sexual harassment allegation

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This latest allegation was reported to the FBI during the confirmation process last year but was not investigated by the agency, according to the Times.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar similarly said the FBI investigation into previous allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh was a "sham" and said the attorney general should release the documents so House lawmakers could examine them. 

"I think the whole thing was a sham and that those documents need to be turned over as well as the documents that the White House hid from his time in the White House counsel's office," she told host George Stephanopoulos on "ABC News This Week."

"All of that needs to come forward to even look at a proceeding like that."

The senator said she has made her views on Kavanaugh "very clear" and believed since his nomination that his track record and reputation would "continue to haunt our country." 

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"I strongly opposed him based on his views on executive power, which will continue to haunt our country, as well as how he behaved, including the allegations that we are hearing more about today," she said. 

Former housing secretary and Democratic 2020 hopeful Julián Castro had previously called for Kavanaugh to be impeached over the incident and tweeted shortly after the Times released the report to demand the latest account be investigated

Castro later added that "It's more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath" and "Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter." On the subject of further investigation, Castro responded to Trump's demand for the Justice Department 

 

Only one Supreme Court justice has been impeached: Justice Samuel Chase went through the process in 1805 before he was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

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Democrats have reportedly been weighing the best path for contesting Kavanaugh's place on the court since his confirmation with legal fights beginning in October 2018 to reveal potentially damaging records that didn't go public during his nomination. Despite the widespread sentiment in the party, that process was expected to take years. 

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