kavanaugh confirmation Lindsey Graham booed while defending Kavanaugh

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) garnered boos at The Atlantic Festival on Wednesday after he said Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was mistreated during his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

"I thought [Ford] was handled respectfully. I thought Kavanaugh was treated like crap," Graham said, eliciting boos from the audience.


"Yeah, well, boo yourself," he calmly retorted.

Graham's comment reflected his fiery tirade during last week's hearing as Democratic senators grilled Kavanaugh over allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted Ford while they were in high school. During the hearing, Graham called the Democrats' treatment of the nominee the "most unethical sham since I've been in politics."

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At the festival, the senator continued to decry what he said were political chicaneries used by Democrats to withhold information and shut down Kavanaugh's confirmation. Graham also cited voting for Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court — both nominees were tapped by President Barack Obama — as illustrative of a "double standard."

"When it's their turn, I've honored their picks," Graham said, this time being met with groans.

Graham previously supported blocking Obama's last nominee to the Supreme Court, arguing that since the primaries had begun, the next president should choose the new justice. Trump eventually filled the seat left vacant by Antonin Scalia's death with Neil Gorsuch.

Graham shot back at any calls of hypocrisy.

"If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term and the primary process has started, we'll wait till the next election," he said.

The senator's remarks were responding to questions from Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic and the moderator of Graham's talk. Goldberg also asked Graham his reaction to President Donald Trump's performance at a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday evening where he mocked Ford's memory gaps during the hearing. Graham conceded he "did not like" the president's comments.

"President Trump went through a factual rendition that I didn’t particularly like and I would tell him to knock it off. You’re not helping," Graham said. "But it can be worse. You can actually kill somebody’s cat and puncture their tires to get them to shut up."

After Goldberg expressed confusion over Graham's metaphor, he clarified the Senate had come a long way from the 1990s, an indirect reference to Anita Hill's hearing before the Senate after she accused then-nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

Multiple senators have expressed dismay over Trump's comments in Mississippi, including Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), two critical, unknown votes for Kavanaugh's confirmation.

CORRECTION: Updates article to fix Graham’s quote in the second paragraph.