Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones told CNN Friday that Brett Kavanaugh's Wall Street Journal op-ed backfired, and solidified the senator's decision to vote no on his confirmation.
Kavanaugh's essay "was certainly not persuasive," Jones said. "What I think was persuasive was his testimony the other day, which was clearly not off the cuff, it was clearly emotional."
Jones agreed that if the allegations of sexual assault that have stained Kavanaugh's nomination are false, the judge should "vigorously defend himself".
"But he went beyond that," Jones said. "He went into partisan attacks, personal attacks on some senators, totally inappropriate, showing an intemperance that is unbecoming a judge, much less a Supreme Court nominee."
Nonetheless, Jones said Kavanaugh's op-ed "helped tip the balance" on his decision -- because it highlighted how badly the judge behaved at the hearing.
"I thought it was somewhat disingenuous because it appeared it was more off the cuff, when he was reading," Jones said, pointing out that Kavanaugh's outbursts were scripted.
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