New Twist in the Kavanaugh saga raises unpleasant questions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/09/21/a-new-twist-in-the-kavanaugh-saga-raises-some-very-unpleasant-questions/?utm_term=.65706b030903&tid=sm_tw&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true
= new reply since forum marked as read
Something bad is going down--just a matter of when!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/09/21/a-new-twist-in-the-kavanaugh-saga-raises-some-very-unpleasant-questions/?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&utm_term=.ced20ac77081
An ugly new twist in the Kavanaugh saga raises very unpleasant questions
Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh on Sept. 6 during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
September 21 at 9:49 AM
On Thursday night, Twitter was aflame with the news that a prominent conservative legal strategist had gone public with the theory that another man may have been the perpetrator of the alleged sexual assault against Christine Blasey Ford.
..............Whelan apologized on Friday morning for publicly implicating someone else, and it is, of course, entirely possible that Kavanaugh had no knowledge whatsoever of Whelan’s machinations. Indeed, it is worth noting that if Kavanaugh did know or had been involved in discussions about this strategy, and either tacitly allowed Whelan to proceed or did not actively try to stop it, it would constitute an unthinkably boneheaded blunder on his part — which perhaps militates against him having knowledge of it.
Still, there are plenty of unanswered questions about this episode hovering around. On Thursday, a top aide to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee, mysteriously told everyone to keep an eye on Whelan’s Twitter feed. Though he has since claimed no knowledge of Whelan’s plan, this at least raises questions as to whether it had come up in internal discussions with the very Republicans who will vote to move Kavanaugh’s nomination forward. 
Indeed, Steve Schmidt, who ran Supreme Court confirmation efforts for Republicans in the past but recently left the GOP, was quite forceful on this point. He noted on Twitter that “it is inconceivable to me,” based on his own experience, “that Whelan published that email without discussions, debate and assistance” from the White House and “GOP Senators and staff.”
When it comes to Kavanaugh’s role, we do know, per The Post’s reporting above, that Kavanaugh was at least involved in discussions about a strategy that would acknowledge the attack but say it was someone else — which itself invites further questioning.
And Schmidt raised the question on Twitter as to whether the nominee might have known or been involved in Whelan’s strategy in some way. Schmidt cautioned that “no one should presume” Kavanaugh had knowledge, but added pointedly: “if he did, it utterly and irrevocably disqualifies him as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”
Tom Nichols, a conservative commentator, agreed:..................
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Here is the tweet from Sen Orrin Hatch's aide: Matt Whitlock
🇺🇸
@mattdizwhitlock
Matt Whitlock 🇺🇸 @mattdizwhitlock
Deleted this earlier (from yesterday) because I didn’t want to promote a thread that dragged an unrelated private citizen into this unfortunate situation
I had no idea what Ed was planning (we’ve never spoken) beyond what he had tweeted about having info exonerating Kavanaugh.
Link to tweet
Jake Winter @jakewinter
12h12 hours ago
Replying to @mattdizwhitlock @joshgerstein
@amyklobuchar @KamalaHarris We need this man and Kavanaugh under oath re: whether they were involved in Whelan’s smear attempt.
3 replies 24 retweets 139 likes
TARZ
Verified account @TheyCallMeTarz
2h2 hours ago
Whitlock is Hatch's director, so it'd be great to get Hatch on the other side of the table under oath as well.
