-Do you affirm that the testimony you're about to give
before the committee will be the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
-I do.
-I never attended a gathering
like the one Dr Ford describes in her allegation.
She and I did not travel in the same social circles.
Dr Ford's allegation is not merely uncorroborated.
It is refuted.
By the very people she says were there.
-You mentioned, I think, the Renat? or Rehnait, Renata.
I don't know how you pronounce that.
That's the proper name of an individual you know?
-"Renata." -"Renata"?
-We, um, she was a great friend of ours.
A bunch of us went to dances with her.
She hung out with us as a group.
The media circus that has been generated by this thought
and reported that it referred to sex.
It did not.
-Let me ask you this.
The author of the book titled "Wasted:
Tales of a Gen X Drunk".
He references a Bart O'Kavanaugh
vomiting in someone's car during Beach Week and then passing out.
Are you the Bart Kavanaugh that he's referring to, yes or no?
-You'd have to ask him.
I got into Yale Law School.
That's the number-one law school in the country.
I had no connections there. I got there by bustin' my tail.
I drank beer with my friends.
Almost everyone did.
Sometimes I had too many beers.
Sometimes others did.
I liked beer [sniff].
I still like beer.
But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out.
-Was there ever a time when you drank so much
that you couldn't remember what happened
or part of what happened the night before?
-I-I, no. I remember what happened.
-He was a big partier, often drank to excess.
-There were certainly many times
when he could not remember what was going on.
-I never saw him stumbling drunk.
I never knew him to forget anything.
-So when you recommended Mr Pryor
for the nomination to the 11th Circuit,
were you aware that he'd made these extreme statements and,
if so, did they cause you any concern?
-Uh, Senator Kennedy,
I know President Bush nominated Mr Pryor.
That was not.
And Judge Gonzales, of course,
chairs the judicial selection committee.
That was not one of the people that was assigned to me.
I'm familiar, generally, with Mr Pryor,
but, uh, that was not one that I worked on personally.
-What was your role in the original Haynes nomination
and decision to renominate him?
-With respect to Mr Haynes's nomination,
I've, uh, I know Jim Haynes,
but it was not one of the nominations that I handled.
I handled a number of nominations
in the counsel's office.
That was not one of the ones that I handled.
-Can you give me a yes-or-no answer?
Were you involved in discussions
involving the nominations of Haynes or Bybee?
-Senator, I believe those were, were when I.
Was still in the counsel's office,
so, the answer would be yes.
-Thank you. -Sir, my first question is this:
Did you know that Judge Pickering
planned to solicit letters of support in this manner
before he did so and, if not,
when did you become aware that Judge Pickering
had solicited these letters of support?
-The answer to the first question, Senator, is no.
This was not one of the judicial nominees
that I was primarily handling.
-On the documents that were taken here from the committee.
-I didn't know about the memos or see the memos
that I think you're describing, so I think that.
-Oh, you never saw any of those? -No, Senator.
That's correct. I don't know.
I'm not aware of the memos.
I never saw such memos that I think you're referring to.
-But in January 2003.
Let me go to something very specific.
Mr Miranda forwarded you a letter from me
and other Judiciary Democrats
to then-Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
You had the full text of my letter in your inbox
before anything had been said about it publicly.
Did you find it at all unusual to receive a draft letter
from Democratic senators to each other
before any mention of it was made public?
-The only thing I said on the email exchange,
if I'm looking at it correctly, Senator, was, "Who signed this"?
Which would imply that I thought it was a signed letter.
-Well, as staff secretary, you see virtually
every piece of paper that goes to the president.
Is that correct? -On many issues, yes, Senator.
Not everything, but on many issues.
-Did you see documents relating to the president's
NSA warrantless wiretapping program?
-Senator, I learned of that program.
There was a New York Times story.
Or the reports of that program when there was a New York
Times story that came over the wire,
I think, on a Thursday night in mid-December of last year.
-You had not seen anything or heard?
Had you heard anything about it prior
to the New York Times article?
-No. -Nothing at all?
-Nothing at all.
-And what about the documents relating to
the administration's policies and practice on torture?
Did you see anything about that or had you?
Did you first hear about that when you read it in the paper?
-Um, I think on, with respect to the legal justifications
or the policies relating to the treatment of detainees,
I was not aware of any issues on that or the legal memos
that subsequently came out 'til the summer, sometime in 2004,
when there started to be news reports on that.
This was not part of my docket, either in the counsel's office
or as staff secretary.