[NR] Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri broke with her Democratic colleagues Wednesday in announcing that she will ignore the outstanding allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when deciding how to vote on his confirmation.Asked at a campaign event in Lebanon, Mo. about Christine Blasey Ford’s claim that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were in high school, McCaskill told the crowd that the allegations will not factor into her decision, which she expects to make "very shortly."
McCaskill, one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for re-election in November, said she was concerned about the allegation but will instead focus on Kavanaugh’s judicial record and qualifications in making her final determination, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
"I’m going to make the decision based on his positions, his writings in his decisions, and what I’ve discovered in the documents I’ve had a chance to review," she said. "That’s how I’ll make my decision."
Ford told the Washington Post Sunday that she authored a previously anonymous letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein of California accusing Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed and attempting to remove her clothes at a house party in suburban Maryland 36 years ago.