Article Image

IPFS News Link • Senate/Senators

Sens. Jeff Flake and Chris Coons explain why they decided to delay Brett Kavanaugh's confirmatio

• https://www.cbsnews.com

Sen. Jeff Flake explains why he insisted on a week-long FBI investigation into the allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh. 60 Minutes spoke with Flake and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the drama on Capitol Hill last week.

Millions of Americans couldn't turn away from a political spectacle that no one wanted to see. Last week, the United States Senate was riven by fury over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. In the hearing room, two great forces dominating our society collided: the "Me Too" movement against sexual harassment and violence and hyper-partisan politics. Friday, as the Senate descended into chaos, one Republican and one Democrat found a way forward with an old technique that seemed long forgotten: compromise.

Tonight, in their first interview since the vote, those senators, Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware sit down with us. It was Republican Flake who forced his party to accept a one week FBI investigation into the assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.

Sen. Jeff Flake: I don't think anybody expected, you know, what happened on Friday to happen. And I can't say that I did either. I just knew that we couldn't move forward, that I couldn't move forward without hitting the pause button. Because, what I was seeing, experiencing, in an elevator and watching it in committee and just thinking, this is ripping our country apart.

Scott Pelley: What happened in the elevator?

Sen. Jeff Flake: (LAUGHS) People felt very strongly about the hearings and what was going on.

Woman to Flake in elevator: What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court. This is not tolerable.

Flake had just announced that he would vote for Kavanaugh. The people who felt so strongly were activists Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher who told Flake they were survivors of sexual assault.

www.BlackMarketFridays.com