GOP Senator: ‘Time for women to women up, men to man up’ on Kavanaugh

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy (R) called on Wednesday for the Senate to take a floor vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court amid an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct claims levied by three women against the judge.

Speaking on Fox News, the Judiciary panel member said that it was time for “women to women up, men to man up” and decide whether they believed the U.S. was still a land of due process.  He added he was not “prejudging” the FBI’s background investigation into Kavanaugh.

{mosads} “I’m not prejudging the FBI report, but it’s time for senators to be senators, for women to women up, men to man up, and let’s vote. Stand up in front of God and country, and you either believe that there is no due process left in America or you don’t. I happen to believe there is,” Kennedy said on “America’s Newsroom.”

The senator went on to point out that he was not defending sexual misconduct, adding that the U.S. is not a country for “creepy old men.”

“Now, I’m not saying that this is any country for creepy old men. It’s not,” Kennedy continued. “Sexual harassment is wrong, and it goes on a lot. And the people who do it should be punished.”

“But this is also no country at all without due process,” he added. “And both the accuser and the accused are entitled to respect and fairness and due process, and they’re entitled to defend themselves. And that’s what [committee chairman Sen.] Chuck Grassley and the Judiciary Committee had tried to do.”

Kavanaugh’s nomination has been roiled after college professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of forcing himself on her when they were both at a high school party in the early 1980s. 

Kavanaugh has forcefully denied the allegations from Ford, as well as those from two other women who have accused him of sexual misconduct in incidents that allegedly took place during his high school and college years.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to say when a vote will be held on Kavanaugh’s nomination amid an FBI investigation into the allegations due to conclude by Friday.