Feinstein's opponent seizes on her role in Kavanaugh fight

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Kevin de Leon, a Democrat in the California Senate, rarely have much in common. But they're united in their condemnation this week of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein is playing a central role in the battle over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. She received a confidential letter earlier this summer from a constituent who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party more than three decades ago, allegations that didn't begin to surface publicly until last week. Feinstein has argued she sought to honor the confidentiality of the letter, whose author, Christine Blasey Ford, came forward this weekend in an interview with The Washington Post.

McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, slammed Feinstein for keeping the letter "secret until the 11th hour." De Leon, who is challenging Feinstein in the Nov. 6 election, said her actions amounted to a "failure of leadership." Feinstein defended her actions in a Tuesday interview and Ford's lawyer has said she acted appropriately.

The accusation, which Kavanaugh has denied, is consuming Washington, where the nomination's fate is suddenly in limbo. It's also giving de Leon an opening to criticize Feinstein in his uphill election fight.

"That was a valuable piece of info that you could have kept the confidentiality and kept her privacy and still dealt with the issue at hand," he said in a Monday interview.

He said he would've shared the letter with fellow Democrats on the Judiciary Committee while redacting identifying information and that Feinstein should have asked Kavanaugh about his character during hearings.

Feinstein, who has been backed by several fellow Senate Democrats, said Tuesday she was honoring Ford's request to keep the information confidential.

"I did not know whether this woman would come forward or not, I did not know if it was credible," she told reporters. "We were looking for a way to get it investigated by an outside investigator and what we found is we had to go through (the rules committee) and we were discussing the pros and cons of doing that, so it hasn't been easy."

Feinstein faces a fellow Democrat in November because of California's unique primary system that sends the two highest vote getters to the general election regardless of party. As one of California's best known politicians and one with deep pockets, Feinstein has kept de Leon's challenge at bay even as he's sought to paint her as too deferential to President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he released an online advertisement linking Feinstein's language about undocumented immigrants in the 1990s to Trump's rhetoric today.

But his criticism on the Kavanaugh issue, made in statements, interviews and even a fundraising appeal, doesn't come without risk.

He led the state Senate last fall when accusations of widespread misconduct rocked the Capitol. De Leon's former housemate was forced to resign after allegations he made advances on multiple women, including inviting a young woman in a fellowship program back to the house the two shared in Sacramento. De Leon denied knowledge of it and moved out after the news broke. He also hired outside investigators to look into complaints and introduced a resolution to expel Sen. Tony Mendoza, who eventually resigned.

A bill to give whistleblower protections to state legislative employees died repeatedly in the Senate, only passing this year, spurred by the #MeToo movement. That bill's sponsor, Republican Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, took to Twitter to criticize de Leon, and women who led the Capitol's #MeToo movement chimed in.

"As one of the CA Capitol women who helped elevate the issue I can attest to Kevin's lack of action," tweeted Alicia Lewis, a Sacramento lobbyist. Lewis said she voted for de Leon in the California primary but will now back Feinstein in November.

De Leon said the whistleblower bill didn't explicitly reference sexual harassment victims until this year, when it passed the Senate, and he called comparisons between his and Feinstein's actions "apples to oranges." He noted the California Legislature's complete overhaul of its procedures for handling sexual misconduct this year following the #MeToo movement.

Elected to the Senate in 1992, Feinstein was one of the first women to sit on the Judiciary Committee. She joined the panel as its previously all-male membership was grappling with stinging criticism of its handling of Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

Over the years, Feinstein has developed a reputation for her preference of decorum and discretion. But that approach clashes with the more aggressive style that a new generation of liberal lawmakers such as de Leon is promoting.

Upending decorum has never been Feinstein's style, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California.

"It seems to me this is in line with the way Dianne Feinstein has always behaved, very carefully, very circumspectly," Jeffe said.

Associated Press writer Juliet Linderman in Washington contributed to this report

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)