Tag: Brett Kavanaugh

Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Hearing (Wed. Edition)

Mika Brzezinski: “The Senate Judiciary Committee Will Vote On Brett Kavanaugh’s Nomination To The Supreme Court Just Hours After He And Christine Blasey-Ford Will Testify Before The Committee.” MIKA BRZEZINSKI: “To our other top story, the senate judiciary committee will vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the supreme court just hours after he and Christine blasey-ford will testify before the committee. Chairman Chuck Grassley said if the committee is ready, it may hold a vote on Kavanaugh on Friday at 9:30 A.M. Senate Republicans are under pressure to move Kavanaugh quickly through the final stages of his nomination to the supreme court. Majority leader Mitch McConnell has warned his colleagues that he has planned to hold a vote no matter what happens possibly as soon as next week. McConnell says he is confident going into a vote.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 9/26/18; VIDEO]

Terry Moran: “With Only 24 Hours Before Judge Brett Kavanaugh And Dr. Christine Blasey Ford Face Lawmakers And The Country, President Trump Is Fighting For His Candidate In Classic Trump Fashion. […] He’s Lashing Out Directly Targeting The Latest Accuser, Kavanaugh’s Yale Classmate Deborah Ramirez.” MORAN: “With only 24 hours before judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford face lawmakers and the country, president trump is fighting for his candidate in classic trump fashion.” TRUMP CLIP: “This is a con game being played by the Democrats.” MORAN: “He’s lashing out directly targeting the latest accuser, Kavanaugh’s Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez.” [Good Morning America, ABC, 9/26/18; VIDEO]

Sunny Hostin: “I Have Never Seen A Prosecutor, You Know, Examine A Witness Without The Benefit Of An FBI Agent Or A Detective Having Conducted An Investigation.” HOSTIN: “I do think that the right way to go is to have a former sex crimes prosecutor, a woman, examining these witnesses, not only Dr. Ford but also judge Kavanaugh because that person has the type of experience that I have. You know how to deal with alleged victims of sexual assault and how to examine them and so I think that is the right move. But I have never seen a prosecutor, you know, examine a witness without the benefit of an FBI agent or a detective having conducted an investigation.” [Good Morning America, ABC, 9/26/18; VIDEO] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Hearing (Wed. Edition)”

Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Supreme Court Hearing

Peter Alexander: “We Heard From Kellyanne Saying That The First Accuser Should Be Heard. After Ramirez Came Out Yesterday She Described This As A Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. They Now Pushing Back Much More Aggressively On This.” PETER ALEXANDER: “Right, it was unusual. This was remarkable. We haven’t seen anything like this. Th felt to me like something out of the Trump playbook. deny, dig in, defend. Now they are going on offense to Kasie’s point latest allegation from Deborah Ramirez, we heard from kellyanne saying that the first accuser should be heard. After Ramirez came out yesterday she described this as a vast left wing conspiracy. They now pushing back much more aggressively on this.” [Today, NBC, 9/25/18; VIDEO]

Peter Alexander: “But Republicans Are Also Scared. They Have Real Concerns That He Would Not Be Confirmed, That There The Potential For Erosion Among Republicans” [Today, NBC, 9/25/18; VIDEO]

Katty Kay: “I Think It’s Unfortunate Brett Kavanaugh Has Called This Part Of A Smear Campaign Because That By Default Is Passing Judgment On What These Women Are Saying.” KATTY KAY: “I think it’s unfortunate Brett Kavanaugh has called this part of a smear campaign because that by default is passing judgment on what these women are saying. But I think that is why we have to have some kind of an investigation that probably is not what we’re going to get on Thursday, which is the senate hearing.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 9/25/18; VIDEO]

John Heilemann: “I Don’t Understand To This Day, This Hour Especially Listening To Brett Kavanaugh Last Night Why It Is His Position And The Position Of The Party Other Than Pure Politics Is Not Calling For An FBI Investigation.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 9/25/18; VIDEO] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Supreme Court Hearing”

New Polls: 50% of Voters Oppose Kavanaugh

New polling released this weekend shows Brett Kavanaugh is historically unpopular and that voters believe Senate Republicans should delay his confirmation until more hearings and a thorough investigation can be completed.

The majority of voters oppose Brett Kavanaugh. He is historically unpopular:

  • 50 percent of voters oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

  • Kavanaugh is underwater by 10 points, which is down 9 points since last month.

Voters believe Dr. Blasey Ford and want Senate Republicans to delay Kavanaugh’s nomination:

  • Nearly 6 in 10 Americans want Senate Republicans to delay a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination until after more investigations and hearings are done.

Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Hearing

Savannah Guthrie: “New Allegations Against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Throwing His Confirmation Process Into Turmoil And Further Uncertainty.” [Today, NBC, 9/24/18; VIDEO]

Peter Alexander: “Just Days Before Brett Kavanaugh Was Set To Defend Himself Against An Allegation That He Assaulted A Classmate In High School, A New Allegation From His College Years.” [Today, NBC, 9/24/18; VIDEO]

Gayle King: “We Have A Second Allegation Of Sexual Misconduct Conduct Against Judge Kavanaugh This Morning.” KING: “We have a second allegation of sexual Mississippi conduct against judge Kavanaugh this morning. It raises new questions over his Supreme Court nomination. One of his Yale classmates tells ‘The New Yorker’ magazine that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party about 35 years ago.” [This Morning, CBS, 9/24/18; VIDEO] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Hearing”

Kavanaugh allegations set stage for Anita Hill sequel

Brett Kavanaugh, a Supreme Court nominee who last week appeared to be cruising toward confirmation, has suddenly found himself in the sequel to the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings of 1991 that rocked Washington and vaulted the issue of sexual harassment into the national spotlight.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is now slated to hear public testimony from Kavanaugh and his accuser, much like senators 27 years ago heard additional testimony from Thomas and questioned Hill about her accusations against the then-nominee.

President Trump’s pick has been accused by Christine Blasey Ford, a Ph.D.-level research psychologist at Palo Alto University in California, of sexual assault more than three decades ago, when she was a 15-year-old sophomore and he a 17-year-old junior.

Longtime observers of Supreme Court confirmation fights see eerily similar parallels between Kavanaugh’s now besieged nomination and the maelstrom that engulfed Thomas in the fall of 1991, which left indelible scorch marks on the Senate.

View the September 18 article by Alexander Bolton on the Hill website here.

Echoes of Anita Hill, but in a Different Era for Women

Anita Hill arriving in 1991 in Washington to testify against Clarence Thomas. Credit: Doug Mills, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — She went public just days before a critical vote and took a polygraph test to bolster her credibility. He unequivocally denied her years-old charges of sexual misconduct. Calls mounted to delay the vote and investigate. It was late September, and a Supreme Court seat hung in the balance.

For those of a certain age in Washington, the past few days have felt like an eerie echo of the confirmation battle that consumed the capital in 1991 when Anita F. Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her. Now it is Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh who faces a hearing on Monday to address explosive accusations by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers.

While not a perfect parallel, the case has quickly polarized Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, once again drawing in all three branches of government for a showdown over sex, truth and politics. Justice Thomas ultimately prevailed, and has been on the Supreme Court for more than a quarter of a century. But this time the battle takes place in a different era, at a moment when the #MeToo movement has brought down many powerful men over accusations of sexual misconduct that were once swept under the rug.

View the complete September 17 article by Peter Baker and Carl Hulse on the Washington Post website here.

Kavanaugh accuser breaks silence over sexual misconduct allegations

The woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct has identified herself and is speaking publicly about her allegations against Kavanaugh for the first time, according to a Washington Post investigation published Sunday.

Christine Blasey Ford, now a 51-year-old professor at Palo Alto University in California, described an incident between the two in high school, alleging that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed one summer in the 1980s and forced himself on her.

Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh “groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it.”

View the complete September 16 article by Michael Burke on the Hill website here.

Anita Hill’s claims echo in allegation against Kavanaugh. Three decades later, will anything be different?

Anita Hill reflects on her 1991 testimony about sexual harassment, the slow pace of change, and today’s #MeToo movement with The Washington Post’s Libby Casey. (The Washington Post)

In a prologue to their 1994 book, “Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas,” journalists Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson wrote of how “unresolved the conflict” remained between Thomas, a conservative justice, and Anita Hill, a law professor who testified that he had sexually harassed her a decade earlier.

“Rather than dying down, their clash has become part of an active battlefront in America’s culture wars,” the journalists observed of the nomination battle, which elevated Thomas to the nation’s top court in 1991. “The fight has gone well beyond the individuals — who have been reduced to symbols and caricatures — to strike at the heart of American politics.”

Nearly three decades later, as the Senate prepares to vote on another Supreme Court nomination, a contest is taking shape with clear parallels to the controversy that pitted the word of Thomas against that of Hill. An allegation of sexual assault has surfaced against Brett M. Kavanaugh, a nominee put forward by President Trump, who himself has been accused of sexual misconduct. All three Republicans — Thomas, Kavanaugh and Trump, who are dissimilar in background and temperament — deny the accusations.

View the complete September 17 article by Isaac Stanley-Becker on the Washington Post website here.

Kavanaugh accuser breaks silence over sexual misconduct allegations

The woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct has identified herself and is speaking publicly about her allegations against Kavanaugh for the first time, according to a Washington Post investigation published Sunday.

Christine Blasey Ford, now a 51-year-old professor at Palo Alto University in California, described an incident between the two in high school, alleging that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed one summer in the 1980s and forced himself on her.

Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh “groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it.”

Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Supreme Court Screening

John Dickerson: “The Woman Who’s Accuse Of Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Of Sexual Assault Is Demanding An Investigation Before She Testifies On Capitol Hill.” DICKERSON: “The woman who’s accuse of supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault is demanding an investigation before she testifies on capitol hill. Christine blasey Ford says the FBI should look into her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her more than 35 years ago before she appears before the senate judiciary committee.” [This Morning, CBS, 9/19/18; VIDEO]

John Berman: “Republican Leaders In The Senate Are Refusing To Allow Any Other Witnesses At A Hearing Including The Man That Professor Blasey Ford Was In The Room During The Assault.”[New Day, CNN, 9/19/18; VIDEO]

Abby Phillip: “There Are A Lot Of Ways In Which On The Republican Side They Are Demonstrating […] They Don’t Necessarily Want To Look Into It Particularly Deeply” PHILLIP: “there are a lot of ways in which on the Republican side they are demonstrating even if they don’t want the FBI to look into it, they don’t necessarily want to look into it particularly deeply, and that’s why Ford is sort of backing off of this process because even in the Anita hill case, there were so many other witnesses called to testify as part of the process, and in this case the one-on-one is exactly what the white house wants, they think the he said-she said will be a wash in the court of public opinion clearing the way for Republican centers to take a vote on this in a fairly guilt-free manner.” [New Day, CNN, 9/19/18; VIDEO]

Cynthia Alksne: “The Idea That The FBI Is Not Capable Of Investigating This Is Ridiculous.” CAMEROTA: “Cynthia, do you believe that the FBI should re-open a background check?” ALKSNE: “Absolutely. The FBI, the idea that the FBI is not capable of investigating this is ridiculous. Who is surprised that the president of the United States who has been accused of numerous sexual assault doesn’t want the FBI doing the investigation, they do all kinds of sex trafficking investigations and they have people that specialize in this type.” [New Day, CNN, 9/19/18; VIDEO] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: The Kavanaugh Supreme Court Screening”