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The passionate statements by GOP senators on the panel – along with President Trump's tweeting – were a sign that Kavanaugh had received the support of most party caucus members. And when Flake, the only undecided senator on the committee, announced that he would vote for Kavanaugh, the result seemed to be a formality.
"I wish I could express the confidence that some of my colleagues expressed about what was or was not produced in the early 1980s, but I left the audience yesterday with as much of doubt that certainty, "said Flake in a statement.
On the way to the committee meeting, survivors of sexual assault clashed with Flake in an elevator. "I have been sexually assaulted," said a woman in tears in a scene captured live on CNN. "You tell all women in America that they do not matter."
The women opened the doors of the elevator, while a visibly uncomfortable Flake listened to them but did not maintain eye contact. "Thank you," he says several times.
In the room, the Democrats protested the quick vote, Senator Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, having moved a motion asking the commission to summon the judge to appear. In a joint vote, the Republicans rejected Blumenthal's request and, moments later, approved the motion by President Charles Grassley to set the final vote at 13:30. "I strongly object. It's ridiculous, "said Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.
Nevertheless, the motion is carried and the vote is scheduled.
Read Adam Serwer on what reveals Mark Judge's absence
In the hours that followed, Republicans and Democrats on the committee took turns giving long speeches explaining their votes for or against Kavanaugh. Almost all lamented a process led by the committee itself. "In my opinion, there were no winners in this room yesterday. No. All I saw was two people, two suffering human beings, "said Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. The Republicans broadly offered sympathy to Ford and said they were convinced of his sincerity about what had happened, but did not think Kavanaugh was involved.
Democrats have criticized the process from almost every angle. They denounced the Republicans for trying to give Kavanaugh a life appointment without a full investigation of the allegations against him; they demanded that the judge be called to testify; they accused the Republicans of ignoring the victims of sexual assault; they assaulted Kavanaugh's partisan crisis and his behavior towards the committee on Thursday; and they greeted Ford and said that they believed it.
Several of them came out of the meeting at different times. "Tonight I will pray for our nation," said Coons. "The burden of this committee was to review, investigate and resolve reasonable doubts and credible allegations against the candidate before him. And on that test, this committee failed.
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