Mitch McConnell makes a major announcement about Kavanaugh - and liberals are angry

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a major announcement about the process to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court Wednesday, and liberals responded with incensed opprobrium.

"I just filed cloture on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court,"  McConnell tweeted.

The procedural action prepares the way for a cloture vote to be taken Friday after senators review the FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh. A cloture vote ends debate from members of Congress about the confirmation.

"There will be plenty of time for Members to review and be briefed on this supplemental material before a Friday cloture vote," McConnell added.

Reports indicated that the confirmation vote will be taken Saturday.

'They drug him through the mud!'

McConnell defended Kavanaugh from the Senate floor against the criticism from Democrats that he was unsuited to the Supreme Court because he had angrily defended the attacks against him before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The same Democrats had the temerity, the temerity to say Judge Kavanaugh disqualified himself because he got a little testy at the hearing," McConnell said. "A little testy at the hearing, after they drug him through the mud!

"Let's get one thing straight," he continued. "I don't want to meet the man or woman who wouldn't be frustrated and angered by a coordinated strategy to destroy their good name on the altar of partisan politics."

'Close down the Senate.'

Democrats and their allies expressed outrage that McConnell was moving forward on the confirmation process despite the fact that senators had not yet read the promised FBI report on Kavanaugh.

"One copy of the FBI report," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). "No more than an hour to review it. No ability for any follow up. Then a rushed vote."

"For 2 years, McConnell has been carefully and purposefully breaking the Senate," he added. "This is the final blow. No comity or tradition left. It’s just about power politics.

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the Parkland massacre, urged Murphy to "close down the Senate."

"This is urgent," he tweeted. "McConnell is complicit in the attempted destruction of our democracy."

"Stop dealing with him and Trump as if this is just another story," he added. "Close down the Senate."

"Mitch McConnell filed a cloture vote on #BrettKavanaugh and the Senate Democrats (maybe others) HAVE NOT seen the FBI report," said Muslim activist Linda Sarsour. "This is all a SHAM."

"Mitch McConnell is the real monster of our era, the person most responsible for breaking democracy," responded Salon writer David Atkins.

Here's a news video on the cloture filing: