House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Saturday urged Democrats to take it “one step at a time” on Brett Kavanaugh, but said if the Supreme Court nominee is found to be untruthful he is unfit to even serve in his current role on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Speaking at the 2018 Texas Tribune Festival in an interview with Showtime’s “The Circus” host Alex Wagner, Pelosi addressed whether Democrats would be open to impeaching Kavanaugh should they win the House majority in the November midterms.
“Well, let’s take it one step at a time. I was asked that yesterday morning, and I said … divine intervention, whatever it takes, let’s see if we can’t get to a better place than that,” Pelosi told the audience.
{mosads}”But let me say this: If Judge Kavanaugh … if he is not telling the truth, to Congress or to the FBI, then he’s not fit not only to be on the Supreme Court but to be on the court that he’s on right now,” she added.
President Trump on Friday agreed to Senate GOP leaders’ request for a “supplemental” FBI background check investigation into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, delaying his nomination for at least a week.
{mosads}At least seven of the 17 Democrats serving on the House Judiciary Committee told HuffPost this week that they would be open to an investigation into Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations that Kavanaugh assaulted her when the two were high school students.
If Democrats regained a majority in the House in November, they could push forward on an investigation that could potentially lead to impeachment.
“Any credible investigation of the accusations against Kavanaugh must include testimony from [alleged witness] Mark Judge. If @senjudiciary refuses to do so, the House Judiciary Committe certainly should,” the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), wrote in a tweet this week.
Kavanaugh and Ford both testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday in a rollercoaster hearing during which Kavanaugh issued fiery rebukes of Democrats and forcefully denied the allegations against him.
Kavanaugh’s nomination was moved to the floor of the Senate on Friday in a party-line vote, while several Republicans have indicated that they will not vote for his nomination until the FBI investigation is completed.