CNN's Chris Cuomo games out the messy and likely options with Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford

Chris Cuomo games out the Kavanaugh-Ford showdown

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

published 19 September 2018

Are you confused about what's going on with the proposed Senate testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says Kavanaugh tried to rape her in the early 1980s? It is a complicated and fluid situation, but CNN's Chris Cuomo broke out the whiteboard on Tuesday night to outline the facts and game out the possible outcomes. For starters, Cuomo said, he doesn't see Kavanaugh and Ford testifying about the alleged incident on Monday, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) proposed.

"This is about politics," Cuomo said. The FBI can — if President Trump allows it — and should investigate Ford's allegations, and Kavanaugh should want the feds to clear his name, Cuomo said. An FBI probe would bring a delay, and "if it doesn't happen, if there is no FBI, if the president doesn't allow it, Monday goes away and this is a done deal," he predicted. Why? Republican voters and Trump's base showed in 2016 they were willing to overlook or discount credible sexual assault accusations by several women against Trump, Cuomo said, and given the choice between "a generation of jurisprudence and having the rules of society reflect what they like, versus this woman and her accusation — if they swallowed so many like a bowl of ice cream, what do you think they'll do with just one?" Trump, for what it's worth, seems to agree with Cuomo's assessment. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.