Sen. Hirono previews questions for Kavanaugh, accuser

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono on Sunday previewed what she plans to ask Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a hearing later this week to address a sexual assault allegation levied against him.

Hirono, one of Kavanaugh’s biggest critics on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper that she plans to ask Kavanaugh about his experiences in high school, the time of the alleged incident.

“I would be wanting to hear what kind of environment it was in high school,” she said. “Apparently, there was a lot of drinking and partying going on.”

Kavanaugh faces allegations of sexual assault after California professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward with a personal account that she alleges took place more than 30 years ago while they were both at a party in high school.

Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the accusations, and he and Ford are expected to speak before the committee this week.

A potential post-confirmation investigation

On Sunday, Hirono also addressed whether there will be any investigations into the alleged incident. The issue came up last week, when Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told Tapper that if Democrats become the majority in Congress in November, they will look into the accusations levied against Kavanaugh — even if he’s been confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Hirono was asked whether an investigation into a sitting Supreme Court justice set the stage for a potential impeachment.

“Frankly, I have such concerns about this person getting to the Supreme Court,” she said. “But, on the other hand, we know that — I know that Maryland has eliminated the statute of limitations for kidnapping and for sexual assault of a minor. And I think that is still out there. And so there may be an investigation along those lines. So, I think that this is a situation that is not going to go away.”

Questioning Kavanaugh’s credibility

The Hawaii senator said she has “had issues” with Kavanaugh’s credibility.

“Even before all of this happened, he had credibility issues in his testimony, three days of testimony,” she told Tapper. “He’s very outcome-driven in terms of how he views cases before him. And so I had issues with his credibility and how he went about things way before this even happened.”

Hirono later said she puts Kavanaugh’s denial of involvement in the alleged assault “in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases.”

“As I said, his credibility is already very questionable in my mind and in the minds of a lot of my fellow Judiciary Committee members, the Democrats,” she added.