Jeff Flake Says Kavanaugh Probe Should Look at ‘Any Current, Credible Allegation’

BOSTON — Sen. Jeff Flake, the Republican who forced a new FBI investigation into accusations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, said Monday that he was doing everything in his power to “make sure that any current, credible allegation that has been made is fully investigated.”

Flake’s comments came in response to a question from a moderator at a Forbes Under 30 Summit at Boston’s City Hall Plaza. The event’s moderator had inquired about news reports regarding limits to the FBI investigation that is set to run a week.

“We certainly want the FBI to do a real investigation, and we are working to make sure that that happens,” said Flake, of Arizona. “I’ve had discussions, many yesterday with my colleagues, and with the White House Counsel’s Office. My staff is following up as well.”

Flake, whose last-minute decision to seek an investigation upended proceedings in Washington last week, spoke on a temporary stage, under a light drizzle. The appearance here had been scheduled long before last week’s events. In a blue suit and tie, Flake appeared more relaxed than he had last week during the tense hearings. He smiled frequently during his remarks, especially when applauded by the crowd.

Event organizers projected a giant photo on a screen of Flake being confronted by sexual assault survivors at the Capitol on Friday, before he made his last-minute call for another FBI investigation before the full Senate votes on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

Asked whether the confrontation affected his decision, Flake said: “It was that experience, as well as a lot of others. I got calls and texts from women I never thought I’d hear from in that regard, saying, ‘Here’s what happened to me when I was young. Here’s what happened to me 30 years ago.'”

Flake said he “didn’t like some of the more partisan references and tone” in Kavanaugh’s remarks to the Senate committee, but said that he might adopt the same angry posture if he felt he was being unjustly accused.

Flake, who once felt so strongly about the need for bipartisan compromise that he marooned himself on a desert island for a week with Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., called it a “shame” that the chances to reach across the aisle are now rare.

Flake, who has clashed with Trump and is not seeking re-election, was asked what it felt like to be a man in the middle: “The Republicans are not happy with you. The Democrats are not happy with you. What does it feel like to be a man without a country?”

At that, Flake nodded and smiled wanly.

“That’s what it feels like,” he said. “It does.”

But he said he had never considered it an option to support Trump and his insults of political adversaries.

“I just think that we’ve got to be better than that,” Flake said. “We can’t refer to our political opponents as losers and clowns.”

An FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh, Flake said, was an important way to protect the highest court in the land from being discredited.

“The Supreme Court is one of the last institutions in which Americans have trust,” he said.

As Flake spoke, a group of protesters on the other side of a chain-link fence began chanting: “Vote no! Vote no!”

A few women in the crowd at the Forbes event picked up the chant, but it soon faded.

“Hopefully the investigation isn’t a sham,” said Chrystal Olson, 33, who spent time with the protesters before listening to Flake’s speech. “Then he’d be a hero to the Republicans. He’d be someone we could all respect.”

Hours earlier, Democratic leaders, and members of the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, held a rally on the steps of Boston City Hall to oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination. A few hundred people gathered with signs that read “Believe Women” and “Kava-NOPE.”

Ayanna Pressley, the Democrat who last month unseated Rep. Mike Capuano, a fellow Democrat and 10-term incumbent, spoke.

“There were men in positions of power, of privilege, of prestige, who described these proceedings as a disgrace,” she said of the Kavanaugh hearing. “The real disgrace is rape culture.”

Asked whether he would consider a presidential run in 2020, Flake said, “I don’t see that happening.”

Still, he noted that he was traveling to New Hampshire to speak Monday evening, and that many traditional Republicans, who believe in free trade and strong global alliances, are looking for a leader.

“I do hope that somebody else runs in the Republican primary,” he said. “The Republican Party is the president’s party right now. But it won’t always be. And it can’t be if we’re going to be a major political force in the future.”

The title of his New Hampshire speech? “After the Deluge: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.”