Democrats Claim Republicans Are ‘Bullying’ Christine Blasey Ford

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee and beyond accused Republicans this weekend of “bullying” Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of groping her in high school over 35 years ago.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said last Thursday that Republicans were “bullying” Ford by saying that they would hold a vote on Kavanaugh if she did not accept an invitation to testify Monday. Republicans have since relented, and extendeded their deadline for Ford to accept their invitation several times until apparently acquiescing in her demand to testify on Thursday.

Nevertheless, Democrats continued to complain Republicans were “bullying” Ford by asking her to tell her story under oath.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeted on Friday that Republicans were “bullying” a “survivor of attempted rape”:

Fellow committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) agreed Saturday:

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) repeated the “bullying” claim on Sunday, comparing it to the alleged “mistreatment” of Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991:

And Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) accused Republicans of “bullying” Ford by insisting on a “sham” hearing with “no witnesses” — though all of the potential witnesses have denied Ford’s account:

And Ford’s attorney, Debra Katz, has also accused Republicans of using deadlines “to bully” her client gratuitously.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) had finally had enough on Sunday:

The Judiciary committee’s Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), who said last week men should “shut up” about the issue, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union Sunday morning that Kavanaugh is not entitled to the presumption of innocence, and that Democrats may continue to investigate the accusation against him even if is confirmed to the Supreme Court by the Senate.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

This article has been updated to include Debra Katz’s accusation.