In an interview with CNN on Friday, Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) expressed his disapproval of how Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh conducted himself in last week’s hearing.
Alabama’s junior senator also questioned the op-ed Kavanaugh published on Thursday, in-which he apologized and explained that his “forceful and passionate” testimony was “to defend my family, my good name and my lifetime of public service.”
“It’s certainly not persuasive,” Jones said of the op-ed.
“I think what was persuasive was his testimony the other day which was clearly not off the cuff, which was clearly emotional and it should be. If [the sexual assault] did not happen he should vigorously defend himself. But he went beyond that,” Jones continued.
Even though Kavanaugh has been a federal judge for 12 years with no “temperament” issues ever being raised regarding his handling of cases, it is the couple of hours of vigorously defending himself last week that, for Jones, defines his suitability to even be a judge.
“He went into partisan attacks, personal attacks on some senators, totally inappropriate, showing a temperament that is unbecoming a judge, much less a Supreme Court nominee,” Jones asserted. “I think the op-ed piece was trying to throw a little cold water on that. But that is very, very serious. It’s one that helped tip the balance for me.”
When pressed directly by the host, John Sherman, on whether the op-ed explained why Kavanaugh “acted the way he did,” Jones said it did not.
Jones said, “No, in fact I thought it was somewhat disingenuous because it appeared it was more off the cuff when he was reading. He had clearly had set this out. He set the tone. He knew exactly what he was going to say and he knew exactly the emotions. If he didn’t then that’s I think even more of a problem.”
Kavanaugh’s parents and wife sat in the row behind him as the nominee gave his testimony.
This is the same interview in-which Jones called the FBI report “disappointing” and claimed that listening to the majority of his constituents is not “the be all to end all.”
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Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
