Despite what the GOP has started to claim, I’m convinced they are lying when they say Senator Feinstein leaked Dr. Ford’s identity and her letter. It came from the GOP side, specifically via the Senate Ethics Committee. I hope you’ll indulge me as I explain.
Much (not enough IMHO) has been made of the fact that within a couple of hours of Dr. Ford going public a letter was released saying what a great guy Brett Kavanaugh was back in high school. It was signed by 65 women who claimed to have known him back then. Once journalists started following up only a handful have affirmed their support however. The rest are hiding from the media and/or not commenting further.
The interesting part for many is that the letter was drafted, signed by that many women and released literally within hours of Dr. Ford’s story appearing in the Washington Post where she put her name to the allegation. Now, since the letter had been forwarded to the FBI and right away to the WH and then back to the committee (albeit with Dr. Ford’s name redacted) the GOP admittedly had a few days notice to put something together. But this is the Trump WH we’re talking about and the Communication’s Office is no more competent than any other part of it. IOW they were in a rush to draft something and shop it around for signatures. But it still happened awfully fast given that they had to keep the effort on the QT. Clearly they didn’t have time to vet those who signed it as to how well they knew Kavanaugh and especially how willing they were to stand behind the letter when the press came a calling. Btw since then we’ve seen hundreds of people who attended Dr. Ford’s school with her (Holton Arms) sign a letter in support of her that also notes all the drunken antics of the boy’s schools like Kavanaugh’s Georgetown prep — and notes some of them have experiences similar to what Dr. Ford endured. Some have made separate statements as well. I’m sure THEY are being contacted by journalists too but as far as I know Faux Nooz hasn’t been reporting any women who signed the Holton Arms letter refusing to stand by having signed it.
But the larger story that I think keeps getting lost is that Senator Feinstein followed Dr. Ford’s wishes from the beginning to try and keep her (Dr. Ford) anonymous. There appears to have been some back & forth (which one Kossack insists is mostly Feinstein actively working to silence Dr. Ford — like others I argued back & forth with him to no avail) about whether the allegation could be explored and still maintain Dr. Ford’s confidentiality. As of tonight we now know that Senator Feinstein saw a possibility via the Senate Ethics Committee which has a provision for using outside counsel to maintain confidentiality in investigations. She had her staff check with that committee’s staff and once it was determined she (Senator Feinstein) would have to get both the (GOP) Ethics Chair and Grassley to sign off on that procedure that it wouldn’t work. That to obtain their consent Dr. Ford’s identity would be compromised.
However, people talk. The juicier the secret the more many people want to share it, even if only with someone they “really, really trust who would never, ever tell anyone else.” Of course real life doesn’t work that way. An old saw I once heard about security is that the likelihood of a secret being revealed is the square of the square of the number of people who know about it.
So even if the exact nature of the allegation wasn’t revealed in those quiet discussion with Ethic Committee staffers the knowledge their was a serious allegation of personal misconduct by Kavanaugh was known outside Senator Feinstein’s office. In the #MeToo era I don’t think it’s a leap for those “Ethics” staffers to make the mental leap from “confidential & sensitive personal conduct allegations” to sexual misconduct.
Anyway, since GOP staffers knew something was in the wind it means their GOP bosses/Senators knew it too!
That I believe is how knowledge of the letter, if not the full details of the allegation spread. Including to other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Once things got to that point it was inevitable the knowledge would make it to journalists. And once that happened Dr. Ford’s hopes of remaining anonymous were gone. It was only a matter of time.
Now, it’s a fair question as to why the GOP would want this knowledge out there. And the answer is they wouldn’t. However, Trump has so infected the GOP that they have taken on many of his traits, or perhaps they had them all along but they’ve been amplified. Regardless, I believe the attitude of “I wouldn’t think twice about screwing the other side with this no matter who gets destroyed in the process and I KNOW they would do the exact same thing” led to a preemptive strike.
A planned one.
As I said the GOP knew enough and long enough ago to plan ahead. From the get go they have lied, cheated and done everything possible to push this nomination through before the next SCOTUS term begins next month. They’ve done all they can including excusing and even supporting perjury by Kavanaugh to put his confirmation on the train track of inevitability. That’s why they fought so hard and ignored the Senate Judiciary Committee’s own rules (remember what happened when the hearing opened (with the quite proper motion to adjourn?) to get the hearing over with and schedule a committee vote. For all the stuff about lying about involvement in torture memos, stolen committee documents and involvement in judicial nominations when he was a WH staffer what scared the GOP was the knowledge there was a matter of serious personal misconduct out there. Even if they didn’t know the exact nature of it his FBI background check surely noted the partying and drinking issues from his past. And given the last year and the #MeToo movement it they would have to worry about a charge of entitled, drunken frat boy behavior starting in high school might well involve sexual misconduct.
Turns out they were right to be worried, although as I said putting those pieces together in a possible puzzle picture wasn’t exactly rocket science.
By getting the hearing over with and scheduling a committee vote for this Thursday (and a full vote in the Senate next week) I think the GOP was hoping that even if journalists started talking about “Feinstein knows something about Kavanaugh” it would simply be too late. Keep in mind that while some of the old fart Senators were around back then a lot of staffers were too young to remember the whole of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas fiasco. Also, for the Senators and GOP operatives old enough to remember they know whatever happens from this point on is going to cost them in November. It’s just a question of how much. That makes it all the more important to get Kavanaugh confirmed and quickly. Even if it means proverbially running into the flames and hoping the burns aren’t too bad or will heal without too much scarring.
However as I’ve noted there’s a GOP talking point I’ve heard the past couple of days — that Senator Feinstein leaked Dr. Ford’s identity. I don’t buy it. Knowing that staffers from the Ethics Office knew that something serious regarding Kavanaugh’s background had been reported, something extremely sensitive where the accuser clearly wanted to protect his/her identity as I said it’s hard not to wonder if they thought/believed #MeToo type behavior might be involved.
So I call bullshit on two things. First that Senator Feinstein pressured Dr. Ford into remaining silent. I think it’s now clear the Senator worked hard to find a way to respect Dr. Ford’s wishes to remain anonymous AND still have her allegation explored in a way that could provide information to the Judiciary Committee. Second, I think there’s plenty of reason to believe it wasn’t either Senator Feinstein, her staff or any of the other Democrats on the Committee or their staff that was the leak.
I’m convinced it came from someone at the Ethics Office. I’ll even concede it’s possible they didn’t want/intend for the matter to become public, but that they shared some “juicy stuff” that they should have — with someone they shouldn’t have trusted to keep their mouth shut.
I don’t pretend to know how this all will play out. What I hope is that we’ll see the same kind of fight from Democrats that we saw in the initial hearing. And if Dr. Ford refuses to testify under the unfair conditions that Grassley and the GOP have set & they cancel Monday’s hearing that Democrats will get down an dirty like the GOP. I’ve been in bar fights and would advise anyone to avoid them, including avoiding places where one might occur. That last part is a mistake I’ve made. But when caught up in one your choices are getting your ass kicked or worse, or fighting your way out of it and doing whatever it takes to get out of it with minimal injury. Kick. Gouge. Bite. Throw/swing bottles or mugs or table legs. Because that’s what’s going to happen to you. The GOP has been doing it to us for too long and on this one we have to respond in-kind. After what happened at the beginning of the Kavanaugh hearing, it’s possible if the GOP sees we will do that and more it might make a few of them refuse to support Kavanaugh.
We only need two.