Lindsey Graham rebuked for trying to blame Ketanji Brown Jackson for Kavanaugh hearing

‘Senator, I don't have any comment on what procedures took place in this body’

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham used his second round of questions for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to air grievances about the years-old confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Mr Graham was midway through his allotted time to question Ms Jackson when he went on a tangent about how “one thing that won’t happen” to her would be him turning a hypothetical letter accusing her of wrongdoing over to Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin just before the close of the hearings.

“How would you feel about that? “ he asked.

The Harvard Law graduate replied that she was not sure she understood the context of the question, at which point Mr Graham asked her if she had watched Mr Kavanaugh’s contentions confirmation hearings in late 2018.

At that point, Mr Durbin interjected to note that Mr Graham’s time had expired. The South Carolina Republican then complained that Ms Jackson had “filibustered” every question he had asked her.

Addressing Mr Durbin, Mr Graham said: “You were here for Kavanaugh ... some people on the other side had an accusation against judge Kavanaugh, that during high school, he sexually assaulted somebody. And the rest is history that was known to the people on the other side and never revealed during the meetings they had with Judge Kavanaugh,” he said. “He was ambushed. How would you feel if we did that to you?”

When the Illinois senator responded that Ms Jackson had nothing to do with the 2018 hearings, Mr Graham said she was asking how she felt about what, in his opinion, Democrats had done to Mr Kavanaugh.

Mr Durbin informed Mr Graham that his time had expired and allowed her to answer, at which point she finally replied: “Senator, I don't have any comment on what procedures took place in this body”.