Georgia Gov. Deal Tweets Support Of Kavanaugh

ATLANTA, GA -- While four other GOP governors are calling for the U.S. Senate to delay a vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal isn't one of them. On Thursday, Deal tweeted his support of the embattled nominee, saying, "Judge Kavanaugh’s record is impeccable and his testimony speaks for itself. I wholeheartedly support him and encourage our nation’s senators to do the same and confirm him to the Supreme Court." Kavanaugh's opponents are urging a delay until sexual misconduct allegations made against him can be investigated by the FBI.

The four governors include Maryland's Larry Hogan, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio, and Phil Scott of Vermont, as reported by Annapolis Patch.

Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of holding her down and attempting to rape her while drunk when she was 15, faced extensive questioning from a Republican-appointed lawyer during a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday. Scores of women's groups have come out in support of Ford and sexual assault victims in general. Kavanaugh, who has emphatically denied Ford's and other women's accusations, began testifying Thursday afternoon.

Democrats, under fire for knowing about Ford's accusations but sitting on them until the eleventh hour, are demanding more investigations. Republicans want to bring a swift end to a confirmation process that originally been seen as a sure thing.

During the intense day-long hearing broadcast nationwide Thursday, Ford detailed the sometimes f0ggy events of the party in the 1980s, but said unequivocally that it was Kavanaugh who attempted to sexually assault her. Her certainty, she said in a soft-spoken and sometimes halting voice voice, was at "100 percent."
Ford said she "believed he was going to rape me," and told senators it has "haunted me episodically as an adult."

Kavanaugh offered a vociferous defense, shouting at times and appearing to cry at others as he maintained his innocence of the California psychology professor and researcher's accusations. He said the hearing was a "calculated and orchestrated political hit" designed to derail his nomination, and that the maelstrom of criticism from Ford's accusations have ruined his family's life and jeopardized his career. He admitted he drank beer in high school, but denied he was even at the party.

"I've never done this," Kavanaugh said of Ford's assault charge. "It's not who I am. I am innocent."

The accusations of Ford, and other women who have come forward with similar stories, had put him and his family "through hell and then some" and warned "the whole country will reap the whirlwind" if his nomination is derailed.

Hours after the hearing concluded, the American Bar Association urged the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate to delay the vote until the FBI could do a full background check on the assault claims — something President Donald Trump has refused to order.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed that Friday, telling reporters that Kavanaugh has already "been through six separate background investigations by the FBI."

White House Patch contributed to this report.

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