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Jeff Flake isn’t sure he believes Kavanaugh

"I don't know if I believed him," says GOP senator who voted Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court
Jeff Flake isn’t sure he believes Kavanaugh

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who dramatically delayed the confirmation vote of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh only to ultimately vote in the judge’s favor, now says he’s not sure if he believes Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford.

“You know, she was very compelling,” Flake said during a Tuesday appearance on ABC’s “T he View . “He was very persuasive. I don’t know. I don’t know. I wish I had the certitude that some of my colleagues expressed. But I said on the [Senate] floor before that hearing, we’re likely to hear the hearing with as much doubt as certainty. And that’s how I felt afterwards.”

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Flake, the senior senator from Arizona, went on to elaborate that a “mere allegation” was not enough to disqualify someone from the Supreme Court. Ford accused Kavanaugh, who now holds a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, of holding her down and likely attempting to rape her at a house gathering in Maryland when she was 15 and he was 17 and drunk.

“If the mere allegation with no corroboration is sufficient to disqualify someone, we’ve entered a new phase that we probably don’t want to enter,” Flake said.

Co-host Sunny Hostin responded to this comment from Flake by asking if he believed Ford.

“”I don’t know,” Flake responded. “I don’t know if I believed him either.”

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Flake voted along party lines to advance Kavanaugh to a full Senate vote but only after an FBI probe — which was limited in scope and wrapped in less than a week. He was confirmed in a 50-48 vote two days later.

Cover: Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona participates in an interview at the The Atlantic's 'The Constitution in Crisis' forum in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)