A member of the House Judiciary Committee says there will “likely” be Congressional hearings to determine if Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh committed perjury during his contentious confirmation hearings last year.
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) told a group of his constituents that he was concerned by claims that Kavanaugh lied under oath and that the judiciary committee may decide to impeach the justice if they find evidence of perjury:
“There’s no question Kavanaugh committed perjury during the confirmation hearings and so forth. I think the Judiciary Committee is likely to take that up.”
Judiciary Committee Freshman Democrat Rep. Joe Neguse Floats Perjury Probe of Justice Brett Kavanaugh https://t.co/VaxidPzjZC
— Minnesota Sun (@TheMinnesotaSun) January 22, 2019
Kavanaugh was accused of lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings in September of 2018. It was alleged that he lied when learned of sexual assault allegations lodged against him by former Yale classmate Deborah Ramiriez. Kavanaugh testified he learned of that accusation after reading a report from The New Yorker.
However, NBC News obtained text messages sent between Kavanaugh and his allies which seem to suggest that he was discussing the matter long before the New Yorker article was published. NBC also reported that Kavanaugh had deliberately lied to Senate investigators.
The comments from Congressman Neguse echo those of Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who has also brought up the possibility of impeaching Kavanaugh if it can be proven he lied under oath.
However, impeaching Kavanaugh would be difficult since Republicans still control the Senate, where an impeachment trial would be held. It’s also unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would even allow such a trial to take place, even if if the House did vote to send articles of impeachment against Kavanaugh to the upper body of Congress.
Featured Image Via MSNBC
