Bush lawyer turns over 42,000 pages hours before Kavanaugh hearing

The lawyer for former President George W. Bush turned over 42,000 pages of documents late Monday related to Brett Kavanaugh’s work inside the Bush administration.  

The Washington Post reported that the development occurred just hours before a confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, was set to begin. 

{mosads}The lawyer, William Burck, told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that the documents, which were retrieved by the National Archives, should be “committee confidential,” according to the Post. 

The newspaper noted that the 5,148 documents amounted to 42,390 pages. 

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) immediately voiced outrage due to the timing of the release. 

“The Senate was just given an additional 42,000 pages of Kavanaugh documents the NIGHT BEFORE his confirmation hearing,” Schumer tweeted Monday night.

“This underscores just how absurd this process is. Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow.”

Schumer added this has been the “least transparent [Supreme Court] process in history” and called for the hearings to be delayed until lawmakers can fully review Kavanaugh’s documents. 

Republicans know this has been the least transparent SCOTUS process in history and the hearings should be delayed until we can fully review Judge Kavanaugh’s records.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 3, 2018

Pushing back at Schumer, Republican staff on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Twitter late Monday that they had completed their review of the newly released papers related to Kavanaugh.

The news regarding the records being turned over comes only days after it was reported that the Trump administration was withholding more than 100,000 pages of records related to Kavanaugh’s time as a White House lawyer. 

The Trump administration said it was withholding the documents on the basis of presidential privilege, according to a letter obtained by The Hill. 

Kavanaugh’s hearings begin on Tuesday as many Democrats voice opposition to the lack of information they’ve received on Kavanaugh’s career.