Donald Trump mocked Christine Blasey Ford at a rally on Tuesday, in his most direct at yet on the woman who accused his Scotus pick, Brett Kavanaugh. Trump made fun of Ford’s inability to provide certain details about the night she said Kavanaugh attacked her 36 years ago at a party in high school. “I had one beer!” he said, impersonating Ford at his Mississippi rally. “How did you get home? I don’t remember. How did you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember.
KLAMATH FALLS, OR— Sanders Calls Trump’s Mocking Rally Speech a Statement of Facts
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sidestepped questions about Trump’s mockery of Christine Blasey Ford as key lawmakers reportedly expressed disgust with his campaign rally speech.
“I had one beer. Well, do you think it was — nope, it was one beer,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Mississippi, questioning what Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee during testimony last week.
“How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know,” Trump said, flailing his arms around to mock her as he has some of his political foes or journalists during similar events in the past.
Trump was merely pointing out the “facts” of the ongoing saga, Sanders later said.
“This is about politics and this is about power, pure and simple,” she said. “It’s a complete and total disgrace.”
In separate interviews, Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — all considered swing votes on Kavanaugh — took issue with comments the Trump made the night before at a political rally in Mississippi that drew laughs from his supporters.
Collins, Murkowski, and Flake condemn Trump's comments mocking Ford.
Three Republican senators seen as swing votes in the confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh condemned Trump on Wednesday for mocking Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford at a campaign rally in Mississippi the night before.
“There’s no time and no place for remarks like that,” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show. “To discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right. It’s just not right. I wish he hadn’t done it. I just say it’s kind of appalling.”
Susan Collins, R-Maine, echoed Flake’s disdain upon arriving on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning.
“The president’s comments were just plain wrong,” Collins told reporters. She did not answer when asked whether Trump’s remarks would affect her vote on confirming Kavanaugh for the high court.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who will cast another key vote, said the president’s comments “mocking Dr. Ford were wholly inappropriate and, in my view, unacceptable.”
In his most direct attack on Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault while both were teenagers in Maryland, Trump sought Tuesday night to highlight holes in the account Ford gave in sworn testimony to the Judiciary Committee last week.
“ ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ ‘Upstairs? Downstairs? Where was it?’ ‘I don’t know. But I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember,’ ” Trump said of Ford, as he impersonated her on stage.
“ ‘I don’t remember,’ ” he said repeatedly, apparently mocking her testimony.
Besides Flake, Collins and Murkowski, Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) also have yet to announce how they will vote.
Trump highlighted another part of the rally Wednesday morning, distributing a clip on Twitter in which he attacks Democrats for opposing his nominee, saying “all they really know how to do is obstruct, resist, demolish, destroy and delay.”
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), another Judiciary Committee member, said he is concerned by reports that the investigation could wrap up as soon as Wednesday.
“That would concern me,” said Coons, who appeared alongside Flake on NBC. “I hope the FBI has been allowed to follow all the reasonable leads that were before the committee last week, and I know that puts them under a lot of pressure, but they have the resources to do it.”
As a vote nears, Democrats have also sought to highlight concerns about Kavanaugh’s temperament, pointing to moments in last week’s hearing in which he grew testy at senators and was emotional at other points.
During his television appearance, Flake reiterated that he, too, was concerned that Kavanaugh at times was “sharp and more partisan than a lot of us would like to see.”
But Flake said Kavanaugh’s tenure as a federal appeals court judge was also relevant.
Those interviewed by the FBI so far include a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who alleges that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while both were in college.
A third accuser, Julie Swetnick, has yet to be interviewed, according to her attorney, Michael Avenatti.
Swetnick said last week in an affidavit that Kavanaugh was present at a house party in 1982 where she alleges she was the victim of a gang rape, a claim he vehemently denies.
On Tuesday, Avenatti released a written declaration from a second woman whose statements supported Swetnick’s claims. The woman, whose name was redacted in the document Avenatti posted, said she “witnessed firsthand Brett Kavanaugh, together with others, ‘spike’ the ‘punch’ at house parties I attended with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol.”
Avenatti said in a tweet Wednesday that the unidentified woman “is prepared to meet with the FBI today and disclose multiple facts and witnesses.”
Avenatti, who is considering a 2020 presidential bid as a Democrat, also took aim at Trump on Wednesday for his comments at the rally in Mississippi.
“Regardless of your politics, you should be outraged by the POTUS standing before a crowd and mocking a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted,” Avenatti said on Twitter. “@realDonaldTrump sought applause and laughter at her expense. Call him what he is — a misogynist pig with no respect for women.”
Send sources on local and national news:
Email: tulelakenews@yahoo.com
James Garland Facebook Page ---> Here
James Charles Garlan@JamesCGarland Twitter ---> Here
TheRealRocks4me YouTube Channel ---> Here
Comments
Post a Comment