NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks network, and John Phillips of the Orange County Register CNN, and KABC, about the latest in the nomination process of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
We’re going to take a few minutes out for some analysis of the week in politics. Joining us today is Ana Kasparian, host of The Young – host for The Young Turks network. Welcome to the program, Ana.
ANA KASPARIAN: Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: And John Phillips of the Orange County Register, also a contributor to CNN and KABC, welcome to the program.
JOHN PHILLIPS: Good afternoon from California.
CORNISH: So, John, I want to start with you ’cause you’ve said that many people were watching the hearing, but the real audience was the five or so senators who could be swing votes. And we’ve just heard now Jeff Flake – right? – one of them joining Democrats in calling for further FBI investigation. What does that mean to you?
PHILLIPS: That’s right. And Politico is reporting that this investigation should last about a week. I had a former FBI agent, Bobby Chacon, on my radio show this week who said the FBI doesn’t really come down with any conclusions. They can investigate. They can talk to people who were involved. They can talk to people who were potential witnesses. And they can say, they said this; those people said that. And then they turn it over to, if it’s a criminal case, a prosecutor. In this particular instance, they’ll turn it over to the Senate committee, and…
CORNISH: Right, but isn’t that more than what we’ve got now – right? – which was just…
PHILLIPS: Well…
CORNISH: …The testimony straightforwardly from the two people who are dealing with the allegations?
PHILLIPS: In many of the cases, we already know what they had to say about that particular night. Now, Democrats may assume that they may give a different answer if they’re talking to someone with a badge and a gun instead of a Senate committee. Time will tell on that. But I expect them to say the same thing that they’ve said publicly so far. And if that happens…
CORNISH: Then let me let Ana jump in…
PHILLIPS: Yeah.
CORNISH: …Because you’ve said that an investigation is critical. What do you see it adding to the conversation?
KASPARIAN: Well, I think it’s important to either confirm the innocence of Brett Kavanaugh or, if he did it, to provide that information or any possible corroborating information to the senators so they can make the right decision moving forward. I don’t expect the FBI to come up with conclusions. I’m also not expecting any type of criminal investigation. And the Democrats have been clear in that.
But I do think that it’s important for us to see our senators take this accusation seriously and to not just talk to Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey Ford but, more importantly, talk to the other individuals that were part of this story. So of course Mark Judge needs to be questioned about this. There were four individuals who signed sworn affidavits on behalf of Dr. Blasey Ford saying that they were in conversations…
