Kavanaugh Confirmation Flake, Collins, Murkowski express dismay at Trump's mockery of Kavanaugh accuser

Sens. Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, key undecided votes on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, criticized President Donald Trump on Wednesday for mocking a woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, calling the president's performance "appalling" and "just plain wrong."

Trump, addressing a rally Tuesday night in Mississippi, imitated and ridiculed Christine Blasey Ford, who claims Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations.


"To discuss something this sensitive at a political rally, it's just not right," Flake (R-Ariz.) told NBC's "Today" show. "I wish he hadn't have done it. I just say it's kind of appalling."

Collins (R-Maine), meanwhile, said Trump's comments were "just plain wrong" when asked Wednesday morning how the president's comments would affect her vote.

Murkowski (R-Alaska) also weighed in, telling reporters, "I thought the president's comments yesterday mocking Dr. Ford were wholly inappropriate and in my view unacceptable."

Flake, Murkowski and Collins, along with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), have not publicly said which way they will vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation. Last week, Flake forced an FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh before agreeing to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

When asked if she would take the president's remarks into consideration when deciding how to vote, Murkowski said, "I am taking everything into account."

In a press briefing Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was not concerned that his comments would cost Kavanaugh critical votes in the Senate. Sanders also pushed back on characterizing Trump's comments as mocking, saying he was merely repeating what occurred during the hearing.

"He was stating facts that were given during Dr. Ford's testimony," Sanders said. "And the Senate has to make a decision based on those facts."

The FBI investigation, initially scheduled to last no longer than a week, could wrap up days ahead of schedule — possibly as early as Wednesday, The New York Times reported. But Ford's lawyers have complained that the agency has not reached out to their client in its investigation. The lawyers sent a letter Tuesday to FBI Director Christopher Wray and FBI General Counsel Dana Boente arguing it is "inconceivable" to have a thorough investigation without speaking to her and witnesses they've identified.

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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he suspects the bureau is not interviewing Ford as a political maneuver to keep the FBI from interviewing Kavanaugh.

"Those who are handling his nomination do not want him to be put into a position of having to explain some of the things which he said before the committee," Durbin said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Flake, who will retire from the Senate at the end of the year, has long been a vocal critic of Trump and advocated publicly for a hearing for Ford after her allegations against Kavanaugh became public. The senator said he would feel uncomfortable voting to confirm Kavanaugh without at least hearing her out.

At his Mississippi rally, Trump unleashed his harshest criticism yet of Ford, deriding her for the gaps he said exist in her recollection of the alleged assault. The president also denounced Michael Avenatti, who represents another woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, as a "sleaze bag."

"How did she get home? I don't remember. How did you get there? I don't remember. Where is the place? I don't remember," Trump said of Ford as the crowd cheered. "But I only had one beer, that's the only thing I remember."

Trump's comments prompted immediate condemnation from from Democrats, with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, writing online that Ford is a "profile in courage" who "deserves better."

Collins' Senate colleague, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), also criticized Trump for using Ford's testimony as a "political rally punchline."

"It made me feel sort of sick. I don't understand why he felt he had to do that," King said Wednesday morning on CNN's "New Day."

Even Brian Kilmeade, co-host of Trump's preferred cable news morning show, "Fox & Friends," said the president "chose to blow it" with his comments at the Mississippi rally. Kilmeade noted both sides of the aisle had previously praised Trump for "laying low" around Kavanaugh's confirmation, largely handing off responsibility to the Senate in hearing out both the judge and Ford.

"As much as the crowds loved it, I wonder about the wisdom tactically in him doing that," Kilmeade said on the show Wednesday of the president's Mississippi performance.