Moments after announcing that he will vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, despite the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that he attempted to rape her and claims by multiple other women of sexual predation, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) was confronted on Capitol Hill by two devastated survivors. They pleaded with him to reconsider as he pressed himself into a corner of the elevator, averted his eyes, and let female staffers stand between him and the women confronting him.

“Senator Flake, do you think that Brett Kavanaugh is telling the truth?” asked one. “Do you think that he’s able to hold the pain of these countries and prepare it, that is the work of justice, the way that justice work is you recognize harm. You take responsibility for it and then you begin to repair it. You are allowing someone unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions and willing to hold the harm he has done to one woman, actually three women and not repair it. You are allowing someone who is unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions.”

A second woman told Sen. Flake she too was sexually assaulted, and that his willingness to confirm Kavanaugh was akin to him telling her the attack didn’t matter. She pressed him to answer the question of whether he believed Kavanaugh to be truthful. “You have power but so many women are powerless. Can you not give them an answer, senator?”


Flake offered no answer, but muttered “thank you” a few times. In the end, he referred them to his written statement.

Breaking: Jeff Flake is a YES on Kavanaugh pic.twitter.com/VOO2fHYW6u — Kate Nocera (@KateNocera) September 28, 2018

“I need to go to the hearing. I just issued a statement. I’ll be saying more as well. No, there have been a lot of questions here, and I don’t want to answer,” he said with a laugh as he left.