The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat With Ari Melber” that Republican senators turned the Supreme Court nomination hearing of then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh into a “circus.”
Mystal said, “Let’s go back to 2018. Brett Kavanaugh has been accused of alleged — of attempted rape by Christine Blasey Ford. She is giving testimony in front of the Senate. That testimony is compelling. That testimony is believable. Republicans have a female assistant — their word, not mine — cross-examining her. That’s not going well. They take a break, and they come back. And Lindsey Graham starts shouting. He doesn’t have a point. He doesn’t have any evidence. He just starts crying and shouting. Smearing, right? And then the rest of the Republicans started shouting, and then Brett Kavanaugh started shouting and crying and whatever. And like that, we go from a serious hearing about a serious allegation to a circus caused by the Republicans to get their guy through. And that is exactly what Lindsey Graham did throughout this hearing. He started screaming, and then the rest of the Republicans followed the line.”
Melber said, “I think there is value to you drawing that link, especially having watched the hearings that it was the other side and their version of that history that came up a lot. You’re offering a bit of a corrective.”
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