After dramatically halting the proceedings, then clearing the way for the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is making a weighty confession: he doesn’t know if he believes in Kavanaugh’s innocence.
During an interview on ABC’s The View on Tuesday, Flake admitted his enduring indecision.
He called professor Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony “very compelling” and Kavanaugh “very persuasive.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Flake said. “I wish I had the certitude that some of my colleagues expressed. But I said on the floor before that hearing, we’re likely to hear the hearing with as much doubt as certainty. And that’s how I felt afterwards.”
He added that he does not think consider “a mere allegation with no corroboration” enough to sink a Supreme Court nominee. Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct or assault by three women in the course of his confirmation process.
Ultimately though, Flake admitted that he is not sure that the man he helped get a lifetime appointment on the highest court in the land is innocent of the alleged crimes.
“I don’t know,” he said of Blasey Ford’s truthfulness. “I don’t know if I believed him either,” he added of Kavanaugh.