Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in Thursday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee turned a question about blacking out from drinking back on Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), minutes after she mentioned that her father had experienced alcohol addiction.
The Minnesota Democrat asked Kavanaugh whether he had ever drunk so much that he “couldn’t remember what happened or part of what happened the night before.”
“No, I remember what happened,” Kavanaugh responded. “And I think you’ve probably had beers, senator.”
Klobuchar pressed him further. “So you’re saying there’s never been a case where you drank so much that you didn’t remember what happened the night before or part of what happened?”
“You’re talking about blackout. I don’t know. Have you?” he shot back.
The issue of Kavanaugh’s drinking has arisen in the wake of allegations from several women that he sexually assaulted them decades ago. In at least two of the alleged incidents, the women said they remembered Kavanaugh being severely drunk.
On Thursday, the Judiciary Committee heard testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor who has alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school. Blasey said in her testimony she recalled Kavanaugh being “very inebriated” at the time of the alleged assault.
Kavanaugh has since admitted that he may have “had too many” drinks on occasion but denied he ever drank to the point of blacking out ― a claim several former classmates have disputed.
“Drinking is one thing, but the concern is about truthfulness,” Klobuchar said.
The senator continued to try to get a direct answer from Kavanaugh regarding whether he had ever blacked out from drinking. The judge once again turned the question around on Klobuchar, prompting her to reply: “I have no drinking problem.”
Klobuchar began her questioning of Kavanaugh by saying that her father has experienced alcoholism in his life and is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous to this day.
After a short recess following the interaction with Klobuchar, Kavanaugh apologized to the senator.
“I’m sorry I did that,” he said. “This is a tough process.”
Klobuchar responded: “When you have a parent who’s an alcoholic, you’re pretty careful about drinking.”