Jon Kyl compares Senate during Kavanaugh hearings to ‘a war zone’

PHOENIX – Jon Kyl said his return to the U.S. Senate in the heat of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination process was “like parachuting into a war zone” and it played role in his decision against pursuing a longer second stint in office.

Kyl made the comments during Friday’s episode of U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs’ podcast, “What’s the Biggs Idea.”

The interview was conducted recently, Biggs’ office said, but before Friday’s announcement that Kyl was leaving office again on Dec. 31.

When Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Kyl to succeed Sen. John McCain after McCain’s death in August, Kyl did not commit beyond the end of the year.

However, it wasn’t until Friday that he closed the door on the possibility of serving until 2020, when voters will decided who will complete the final two years of McCain’s term.

“I must say, to come in during that Kavanaugh hearing convinced me, if I had ever needed any convincing, that after this stint I’m going to be done with this,” Kyl told Biggs.

Before his appointment, Kyl, who previously had been a senator from 1995 to 2013, worked as Kavanaugh’s “Sherpa,” using his familiarity with Congress to guide the Supreme Court nominee through the process.

“It was like I was parachuting into a war zone,” Kyl said of returning to office. “It was really different than it was when I had left the Senate five years earlier.”

Kyl was sworn in just before contentious hearings were held about Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, who was eventually confirmed.

He lamented the behavior of demonstrators in the halls of Congress.

“They weren’t just Americans petitioning their government; they were rowdy people whose purpose was to disrupt,” Kyl said.

“They were loud and they were in your face and they jostled us around.”

Kyl called the actual hearings “uncivil, to put it charitably” and said senators from both parties “were acting very strangely during that whole process.”

“That was kind of my initiation back into the Senate,” he said. “And that is why I described it as kind of a weird experience.”

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