'What a railroad job': Democrats walk out of Senate hearing in protest of Kavanaugh

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., joined by from left, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas

• A handful of Democratic senators walked out of the Judiciary Committee's hearing on Friday morning in protest of the vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
• "My answer is no, no, no," Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii said as she left the room.
• The 21-person panel is expected to approve Kavanaugh's nomination - the next step toward full Senate confirmation - at 1:30 pm on Friday.

Four Democratic senators walked out of the Judiciary Committee's hearing on Friday morning while committee chairman Chuck Grassley delivered his opening statement praising Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. 

Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont held a press conference in the hallway outside the committee room.

Harris remained silent during the committee's roll call, while others spoke out. 

"I strongly object. This is just totally ridiculous. What a railroad job. My answer is no, no, no," Hirono said as she left the room.

The 21-person panel is expected to approve Kavanaugh's nomination - sending him to a cloture vote on Saturday - at 1:30 pm on Friday. Sen. Jeff Flake - the only Republican on the committee who had signaled he could break with his party - announced on Friday morning that he would support the nominee, who has been accused of sexual misconduct.

Blumenthal condemned his Republican colleagues at the press conference, arguing that they were doing their best to ignore and divert attention away from the "undeniably credible" sexual assault allegations against the judge. 

"Talking about coordination, what we saw yesterday was a coordinated effort to change the conversation away from the brave, courageous survivor of sexual assault because her story was so intensely, undeniably credible, to a partisan attack," Blumenthal said, referring to Christine Blasey Ford's Thursday testimony.  

Meanwhile, in the Senate hearing, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, excoriated Kavanaugh for what she described as his "aggressive and belligerent" behavior during his Thursday testimony.

"Candidly, in the 25 years on this committee, I have never seen a nominee for any position behave in that manner," Feinstein said. "This was not someone who reflected an impartial temperament or the fairness and even-handedness one would see in a judge."

Liberal activists encouraged the senators to walk out.