Update from Sarah Jane, October 1, 2018: On Friday September 28, Trump, at Senator Jeff Flake’s urging, finally allowed the FBI to re-open its background check on Kavanaugh and examine charges that came to light recently.
The bad news is in making that request, Flake also cast the vote that moved the nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, starting the countdown on subsequent votes on Kavanaugh.
Flake’s request made his own final vote contingent on an FBI investigation that could take no more than one week.
That DOES NOT mean the FBI has a week to investigate. That means they have to stop after one week. They could end earlier.
Earlier this morning, Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_Pewter) tweeted a link to a New York Times story that indicated the FBI investigation could end as soon as TODAY:
Key passage (bold is mine): “Officials said the F.B.I.’s ‘limited’ supplemental background check of Judge Kavanaugh could be finished by Monday morning. Set in motion late last week by three Senate Republicans, the inquiry was supposed to shed further light on accusations that Judge Kavanaugh engaged in sexual misconduct during his high school and college years and help resolve the fierce national debate over whether he should win confirmation to the Supreme Court.”
Full link:
…And this went down against the backdrop of weekend reports that showed that the White House was putting unreasonable limits on the FBI’s investigation, a Trump claim on Twitter that he was not curtailing the agency, and a second round of stories debunking that claim.
The answer, as always, is to call, and urge friends and family to call.
This time, Celeste has a custom script for ALL Senators. Because the Senate Judiciary Committee vote happened on Friday, the focus shifts to everyone now. I have updated this rolling post accordingly.
If you have not called your Senators yet, now is the time. If you’ve called before, call again.
Only call your own Senators. Urge your friends and family members to call their Senators.
And yes, you have to pick up the phone and call, and I’m serious about only calling your own Senators.
Be polite. Always, be polite. Practice what you want to say before you say it. Get it right, master your emotions, then call.
This is as serious as it’s ever been, people. Only a large, loud outcry from us has a chance of stopping this nomination.
Please honor the bravery of Dr Christine Blasey Ford by making those calls, and then urge friends and family to do the same.
To stay on top of things, check the Twitter feeds of @Celeste_Pewter for news on what you can do; @ICalledMyReps to see others acting alongside you; and @BenWikler for news about potential protests.
Here is Celeste Pewter’s general script for all Senators. Please check her feed, @Celeste_Pewter, for the freshest, most up-to-date scripts. Please tweet about your calling experiences to #ICalledMyReps, noting full voice-mail boxes and whether and how readily the office staff picks up the phone.
You can show love for Celeste Pewter in many ways.
You can follow her on Twitter: @Celeste_Pewter
You can tweet about calling your Senators, using the #ICalledMyReps hashtag.
You can follow @ICalledMyReps on Twitter.
You can adopt a vulnerable incumbent Democratic Senator by checking out The Road to 2018, an organization Pewter created. Read about it here:
You can follow The Road to 2018 on Twitter: @Roadto18
And you can subscribe to her peerless newsletter, It’s Time to Fight:
http://itstimetofight.weebly.com
One Thing You Can Do 