Yes, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has managed to finally be voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote by the full Senate. The vote depended on Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who is retiring, voting yes. He did, but then he tried to impose a catch.

That catch? He got an earful from Democrats and while he voted yes, he now wants a “limited” FBI investigation that should “only” last a week.

Oh good God. The circus continues!!!

I honestly cannot wait to do this for a-whole-nother week only to wind up in exactly the same place with exactly the same amount of knowledge.

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) September 28, 2018

And that’s the problem. Senator Flake basically wants the FBI to go interview the three named witnesses – Mark Judge, Leland Keyser, and Patrick “PJ” Smyth – within the course of a week in order to give himself enough political cover to vote yes on the floor of the Senate for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The story was that Senator Chris Coons was leaning heavily on Flake to do this, especially after Flake declared himself a “yes” vote for the committee this morning. He believed there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that Brett Kavanaugh was guilty of anything, but let’s just let the FBI interview the witnesses for funsies now???

And do you REALLY think the Democrats will accept the one week time limit???

That took exactly 3 minutes. https://t.co/P2IQUDlg12

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 28, 2018

What the Democrats really want is to get Mark Judge under oath and pick him apart, to try and get him to pin something on Kavanaugh. However, Judge already gave yet another statement to the committee this morning, and he wants no part of this.

Mark Judge sends a new letter — signed — to the Senate Judiciary Committee. pic.twitter.com/oowwXlEkgd

— Byron York (@ByronYork) September 28, 2018

If the FBI calls up Judge, he will decline to be interviewed. He could be subpoenaed to testify, but if that happened (highly unlikely), his lawyer would advise him to plead the Fifth. Which leaves us exactly back where we started with the potential witness interviews. (Since Keyser and Smyth are not accused of anything, the likelihood of them being subpoenaed are pretty much zero, and the FBI would be left with the same witness statements they have now.)

So, what happens now?

Well, Senators McConnell and Schumer, as the respective leaders of their parties in the Senate, can request that the FBI re-open the background check investigation. Conversely, President Trump can order it as well. The FBI can either accept the request, or tell everyone – again – that it’s out of their jurisdiction because they consider this a local crime matter in juvenile court. Speaking of which, Montgomery County, Maryland, officials dropped this bombshell today:

NEW: Montgomery County (Md) police chief and prosecutor release letter ".. stand ready to investigate any sexual assault allegation from any victim where the incident occurred in our jurisdiction" #Kavanaugh pic.twitter.com/OQwu9hle5t

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) September 28, 2018

So, let’s sum this up:
1) No police reports have been filed, so they can’t investigate anything.
2) They cannot investigate anything unless the VICTIM files a report.
3) There WAS a statute of limitations in 1982, and it was one year for this alleged charge.
At this point, do you think Dr. Ford’s team bothers to move forward with filing a police report? No way.

This is all about delaying everything further for nothing more than covering Senator Flake’s political rear end. Because even if he isn’t running for reelection to the Senate, you can bet that he’s thinking about other political opportunities in the future.

Oh: @JeffFlake will deliver a speech Monday titled “After the Deluge: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.”

He’s delivering it in New Hampshire #FITN

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) September 26, 2018

And the Democrats are out to rake up as much mud as possible in the meantime. Maybe Michael Avenatti can dig up another client in a week. And that’s the entire point. Delay, delay, delay – while Judge Kavanaugh, and the nation, continue to live through this particular circle of political hell.

Featured image: Senator Jeff Flake, screenshot via YouTube