The Federal Bureau of Investigation submitted its report to U.S. senators on the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Reactions after the FBI report are more or less where the U.S. politicians were a week ago – the Republican senators are still backing Kavanaugh and Democratic Senators are still opposing him.
The key to Brett Kavanaugh getting to the Supreme Court are four senators – three Republican and one democrat. They are what the U.S. media calls – key swing votes as the Republicans need 51 votes to confirm the judge.
But Republican Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who forced the supplemental FBI investigation following Christine Blasey Ford's emotional testimony against Kavanaugh last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "we've seen no additional corroborating information" to support the allegations.
Another crucial Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine said the report appeared to be "a very thorough investigation" and returned several times to the secure room in the Capitol Hill where staffs were reading the sole copy of the FBI report aloud to senators.
What however shows the backing being provided to Kavanaugh is the statement made by Republican senator Mitch McConnell, "What we know for sure is the FBI report did not corroborate any of the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. And the second thing we know for sure is that there's no way anything we did would satisfy the Democrats," McConnell said.
The initial reaction indicate that despite at least two credible allegations against Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault – cases if had been reported at the time would have at least earned Kavanaugh probationary jail term – they are likely to back his nomination.
Which leads us to the conclusion that despite the #MeToo movement that has swept U.S. and disclosed the predatory nature of men like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, the U.S. is still not ready to enforce an absolute embargo against men who have misbehaved with women. And today shows the struggle for equality and a life free from predators is still a dream for women – in the U.S. and the world.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 05, 2018 06:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).