Needs a Change of his diaper...

Graham erupts in anger at Kavanaugh hearing

By SARAH FERRIS and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Lindsey Graham had had enough.

The South Carolina Republican erupted in anger during his turn to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday, marking a pivotal turn away from the GOP’s previously measured attempt to rely on outside counsel for questioning the high court nominee.

It was a stunning moment, but one that had been coming for days for anyone watching the 63-year-old senator closely.

A furious Graham accused Senate Democrats of “the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics" — an effort to ruin Kavanaugh’s reputation and sink his nomination for the Supreme Court. At another point, Graham said of Kavanaugh's confirmation process: "This is not a job interview. This is hell."

“What you want to do is destroy this guy's life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020,” Graham roared in the seventh hour of Judiciary Committee testimony over whether Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in 1982.

After Graham’s outburst, the two Senate Republicans following him, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), took the same approach of questioning Kavanaugh directly.

“Judge, I can't think of a more embarrassing scandal for the United States Senate since the McCarthy hearings,” a fuming Cornyn said, speaking to the judge. “You’re right to be angry.”

Throughout the nearly two-week lead-up to Thursday’s unprecedented session, Graham has become visibly more upset each day as Ford and two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. The current federal appeals court judge has vehemently denied the allegations.

The last couple months have been a very difficult period for Graham, the South Carolina Republican has acknowledged. The death of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of Graham’s closest friends, hit him hard. Hurricane Florence hit South Carolina and plunged lawmakers from the Carolinas into crisis mode. And the troubled Kavanaugh nomination has become a personal challenge for him.

By Thursday afternoon, Graham wasn’t having it anymore.

“If you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you did to this guy,” Graham yelled at Democrats. “Boy, you guys want power. God, I hope you never get it. I hope the American people can see through this sham. That you knew about it and you held it."

Graham was the first Republican senator to directly question either Kavanaugh or Ford, ditching the GOP’s tactic of relying on their hand-picked outside prosecutor, Rachel Mitchell.

“Are you a gang rapist?” Graham exclaimed, as Kavanaugh calmly replied, “No.”

Graham, who was first elected to Congress in 1994, came to national attention in 1998. He was a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. Graham then served as a "manager" of Clinton's Senate impeachment trial.

The irony of his demonstration is that Graham, who wants to chair the Judiciary Committee someday, sought to use a sex scandal to take out a president at that time. Now, two decades later, Graham is defending a Republican Supreme Court nominee from accusations of sexual misconduct.

At Thursday's hearing, Graham also spoke directly to undecided Republicans, pleading them to line up in support of Kavanaugh, despite four hours of gut-wrenching testimony from Ford.

“To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I’ve seen in politics,” Graham said, before turning to Kavanaugh. “I hope you’re on the Supreme Court. That’s exactly where you should be.”