Press

After Months of Silence on Kavanaugh, Hogan Stands with Trump in Defense of SCOTUS Nominee

Sep 21, 2018

Annapolis, MD—After months of silence on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to serve on the Supreme Court, Governor Larry Hogan is refusing a request from State Sen. Cheryl Kagan to investigate allegations of sexual assault raised against Kavanaugh. On Sunday, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford reported that while they were both high school students in Bethesda in 1982, Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.

This morning, Sen. Cheryl Kagan sent letter to Hogan urging him to direct the Maryland State Police to investigate Dr. Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. Kagan wrote, “…you must step up where members of your party on Capitol Hill fell down and direct the Maryland State Police to initiate an investigation int Professor Ford’s allegations. She deserves the basic fairness she has been denied, and you have the power to give it to her because the assault allegedly occurred in Montgomery County, Maryland.”

When asked about the letter at a press conference today, Hogan said, “The Maryland State Police will not be getting involved in this.”

“If Donald Trump doesn’t have the integrity to authorize an independent investigation by the FBI, then Larry Hogan has a duty to authorize an independent investigation by Maryland state police,” said Maryland Democratic Party chair Kathleen Matthews. “The American people should not have Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for a lifetime seat rushed through without a full investigation into Dr. Blasey Ford’s credible allegations.”

This week, Donald Trump announced that he will break past precedent by refusing to direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the allegations against Kavanugh. Trump has also repeatedly dismissed the allegations, defended Kavanaugh and this morning attacked Dr. Blasey Ford, saying, “If the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents.