Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) poked fun Thursday at a report about Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh's incursion of credit card debt buying baseball tickets, and he warned against the practice of "Borking."
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Kavanaugh "incurred tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt buying baseball tickets over the past decade and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his cash accounts and investment assets," according to a review of his financial disclosures provided by the White House.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said Kavanaugh incurred the debt buying Washington Nationals season tickets for himself and a "handful" of others, as well as spending on home improvements. In 2016, Kavanaugh reported between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a loan, and they were either paid off or fell below the reporting requirements in 2017.
"I'm glad that outside fact-checkers are already swatting down Democrats' desperate attacks on his nomination," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "In a breaking news, bombshell report just last night, we learned that Judge Kavanaugh enjoys America's pastime. Investigative reporters scoured his financial disclosures and learned that he and his friends buy tickets to baseball games and that he pays his bills. So, as you can see, there's still plenty of silliness to go around."
McConnell said there was widespread agreement it was wrong to "Bork" a Supreme Court nominee, calling it "harmful to our democratic process." The slang term is named for Robert Bork, the Ronald Reagan nominee for the Supreme Court in 1987 who was ultimately not confirmed after he was vilified by Senate Democrats and left-wing activists.