Perjury involves willfully lying under oath with intent to deceive in verbal, written or other testimony in court, before a grand jury, in congressional testimony, among other proceedings.
All politicians lie. So do judges. It’s one thing doing it in public addresses, statements or other communications.
Under oath, it’s a criminal offense, calling for a fine and/or up to five years imprisonment.
Subornation of perjury (attempting to influence another party to lie under oath) is also a criminal offense. Proving perjury requires distinguishing between unintentionally misstating facts in contrast to willfully lying.
Several prominent US organizations claim Kavanaugh committed perjury during Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing testimony.
Demand Justice, MoveOn and NARAL Pro-Choice America said they found serious inconsistencies in answers he gave under oath.
They urged “immediately refer[ring] this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation and potential criminal charges,” saying that Kavanaugh’s testimony on at least five issues pertaining to his time in the Bush/Cheney regime “appear[s] to rise to the level of perjury”—notably when discussing his involvement in the judicial nominations of William Pryor and Charles Pickering at the time.
In earlier testimony, he denied involvement in their nominations when serving as Bush/Cheney’s staff secretary, later in their White House counsel’s office.
Emails obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee show otherwise. Kavanaugh may have lied during confirmation hearing testimony that he was just “interested in” their nominations, not directly involved.
He may also have lied about his knowledge of and/or involvement in Bush/Cheney’s warrantless wiretapping, torture and other lawless programs.
Senator Patrick Leahy pressed him during his confirmation hearing, saying a “committee confidential” email showed he asked a Justice Department lawyer to provide information on the constitutionality of warrantless spying or lack thereof.
In addition, the above-named groups said he lied about his involvement in Bush/Cheney’s extrajudicial detainment policy. In Senate testimony, Kavanaugh claimed no involvement.
According to the AbovetheLaw legal website, Kavanaugh “perjured himself,” saying “[h]e should be impeached from the DC Circuit” court and removed—asking, “Are Republicans really going to confirm a judge who will need to be impeached?”
Documents released on him show his “antipathy towards minorities and willingness to entertain Korematsu-style racial profiling, [as well as his] willingness to overturn Roe v. Wade.”
His dissembling under oath when serving in the Bush/Cheney White House was aided by documents stolen from Senator Patrick Leahy and other Dem Judiciary Committee members, according to the senator from Vermont.
Leahy accused Kavanaugh of “not [being] truthful” when he denied receiving documents the senator claimed were stolen from him and other Dems.
“There were numerous emails sent to him that made it very clear this was stolen information, including a draft letter from me,” Leahy added.
On September 6, he tweeted the following: “BREAKING: Kavanaugh testified he never received any docs that even “appeared to . . . have been drafted or prepared by Democratic staff.”
“[H]e got 8 pages of material taken VERBATIM from my files, obviously written by Dem staff, LABELED “not (for) distribution.”
Stolen material included information Dems used to derail Bush/Cheney judicial nominations.
“Judge Kavanaugh answered under oath more than 100 questions on this hacking in 2004 and 2006. His repeated denials that he didn’t receive any stolen info and didn’t suspect anything ‘untoward’ is SIMPLY NOT CREDIBLE,” Leahy stressed.
“Here are more emails. It is simply not ‘normal’ to get real-time insider intelligence from a Democratic ‘mole and marked ‘spying.’”
“Red flags abound. And with 102,000 documents withheld by the Trump WH, mostly about judicial noms, we can bet there’s more.”
According to ThinkProgress justice editor Ian Millhiser, “Maybe there’s a reason Senate Republicans tried to keep Kavanaugh’s emails secret?”
Last Saturday, the NAACP called on Senate members “to conduct a special investigation into possible perjury by Judge Kavanaugh,” adding:
“Records released . . . this week provide substantial evidence that Judge Kavanaugh made misleading and false statements to the Judiciary Committee during his appellate court confirmation over a decade ago.”
“The documents contradict his testimony during his prior judicial confirmation hearing regarding a number of matters, including but not limited to his role in the judicial nominations of Charles Pickering and William Pryor and his role in the theft of Senate emails.”
“Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee this week only compounded the inconsistencies, fueling our concern that he has committed an extraordinary breach of public trust, then and now.”
Republicans control both houses, making Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation highly likely—regardless of his dubious history and skeletons in his closet, notably accusations about lying under oath numerous times, along with his ideological extremism.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
Isn’t he a sly, insidious, deceitful one? Yes. He is!