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The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning criticized the FBI and White House for “failing to take even the most basic steps” to investigate an allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school.
Feinstein also drew comparisons between the current scenario and how allegations made by Anita Hill 27 years ago were handled.Hill came forward with sexual harassment allegations during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
“In 1991, five days after Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment became public against her wishes, the Judiciary Committee held three days of controversial hearings. Now, just one week after Christine Blasey Ford shared her story, Republicans want to repeat past mistakes, rushing the process to hold a hearing,” Feinstein said in a statement.
“What’s worse at that time, President Bush asked the FBI to do its job and perform an investigation looking into Anita Hill’s allegations, which it did. Now, under the Trump administration, Republicans want to do even less by blocking any investigation into Dr. Ford’s allegations,” she added.
“I’m disappointed the FBI and White House are failing to take even the most basic steps to investigate this matter,” Feinstein continued. “We must not repeat the mistakes of the past and rush the process before we’re able to gather more information and the FBI is able to reopen and complete the background investigation.”
Later Tuesday morning, Hill, in an op-ed published by The New York Times, also compared her ordeal to the present scenario.
“It’s impossible to miss the parallels between the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing of 2018 and the 1991 confirmation hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas,” she wrote. “In 1991, the Senate Judiciary Committee had an opportunity to demonstrate its appreciation for both the seriousness of sexual harassment claims and the need for public confidence in the character of a nominee to the Supreme Court. It failed on both counts.”
The statements both came less than a day after Feinstein’s committee announced that it would hold a public hearing Monday in which Kavanaugh and Ford will be able to testify.
In a Washington Post story published Sunday, Ford alleged that Kavanaugh and another person drunkenly “corralled her into a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers” in the suburbs of Maryland one summer in the 1980s. “I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” she said of Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh said in a statement, “This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.”
“I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.”
Several Democrats on the Judiciary Committee said that their panel should wait until the FBI conducts and completes an investigation before holding a public hearing.
The FBI, however, isn’t likely to conduct any investigation into the veracity of Ford’s claims, unless the White House asks for it. Several current and former Department of Justice and FBI officials told NBC News that has always been the practice.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, later tweeted, on Tuesday, that “none of this was necessary had these accusations been given to the FBI 6 weeks ago for an apolitical investigation out of public eye.”
“But because Republicans and Kavanaugh himself first heard them in the media there really was no alternative,” he added.
Hatch told NBC News Monday that Ford is “mixed up,” and called Kavanaugh “honest” and “straightforward.”