Democrat law professor: Kavanaugh turned the tide once he hit back against Democrat attacks

By Nick Givas

George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley said Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has turned his confirmation prospects around after deciding to hit back against attacks from Senate Democrats.

“It was frustrating for a lot of people. Dividing this into five-minute increments did not allow for any real substantive questioning to occur,” Turley said on “Fox & Friends” Friday.

Jonathan Turley

Jonathan Turley

“I think he did a lot of good for himself,” Turley continued. “If the vote had been taken after Dr. Ford’s testimony, I think his confirmation would have failed. She was very compelling. There were even some statements from senators saying that they were persuaded … This was really the two-minute warning in the fourth and he sparked the offense.”

Turley said Kavanaugh made the right decision directing his anger and frustration towards Senate Democrats instead of lashing out at Ford directly.

“He went in there and instead of attacking her, he attacked the Democrats and that was very effective for the right group of people,” Turley added. “It’s not going to change the mind of people who believe Dr. Ford, but I think it did spark the base. And they’re going to have their voices heard this morning.”

Turley said Kavanaugh’s competence as a jurist is not in question and claimed it was justified for him to be angry, after being accused of rape.

“I think there’s no question about his competence. And what you saw yesterday was a human being, you know, a lot of people were taken aback by the anger,” Turley said.

“But, he was not going to be the next Michael Dukakis who just sits there and gives a rather wooden robotic response,” he concluded. “He’s being accused of being a rapist. And most people would be quite angry. And that was a change for people to see greater emotion for him. And I think that for many people, they thought that was quite genuine.”

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Images courtesy of Senate.gov and Jonathan Turley