SEN. HIRONO WON’T SAY WHETHER HARASSING SENATORS IN RESTAURANTS IS ‘GOING TOO FAR’
by Virginia Kruta, Daily Caller, 10/07/2018
Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono on Sunday refused twice to answer whether she thought harassing Republican senators in restaurants was taking things a bit too far.
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Hirono responded to the question posed by guest host Dana Bash.
Watch: VIDEO
Bash began the segment by drawing a clear line between peaceful protest and what amounts to harassment.
“The president, Republicans are saying Democratic protesters are, quote, ‘an angry mob,'” she explained. “What I want to ask you about, it is one thing to protest the Supreme Court at the capitol. That’s been done for generations and frankly since the founding of this country. It’s another thing to run senators out of restaurants and go to their homes. Is that going too far?”
Hirono dodged the question, instead going back to the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
“I think it just means that there are a lot of people who are very, very much motivated about what is going on,” she said. “What happened with Judge Kavanaugh from the very beginning, this is not a fair process. What the Republicans did was to telegraph after Dr. Ford’s account came forward, what they telegraph was, one, Dr. Ford, we don’t want to hear from you. Two, if we have to hear from you, we will rig the hearing.”
Bash tried again, asking directly, “Should they be going after people at restaurants?”
That’s when Hirono turned the topic to white supremacists, again ignoring the question.
“You look at white supremacists and all that, this is what’s coming forth in our country, a tremendous divisiveness in our country,” she said. “This is the kind of activism that occurs and people make their own decisions. If they violate the law, then they have to account for that.”
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SEN. HIRONO: SEN. COLLINS ‘INSULTS’ FORD WITH HER VOTE TO CONFIRM KAVANAUGH
by Virginia Kruta, Daily Caller, 10/07/2018
Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono argued on CNN Sunday that Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins insulted Dr. Christine Blasey Ford by saying that she believed Ford was assaulted, but not by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Watch: VIDEO
Collins said, both in her now infamous floor speech on Friday and during a segment on CNN’s “State of the Union,” that she believed that Dr. Ford was the victim of some trauma in her past, but that she did not believe that trauma came at the hands of Brett Kavanaugh.
Hirono responded, “She said she thinks that Dr. Ford thinks she was assaulted, which is even more insulting than saying she gave a very credible account. I certainly believe Dr. Ford. Anyone watching her testimony would conclude she was being very truthful. One thing she recollects with 100 percent accuracy is that Judge Kavanaugh, Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her.”
Guest host Dana Bash pressed Hirono further, asking, “You think that Senator Collins is insulting to Professor Ford?”
“To say that she thinks that Dr. Ford thinks that she was assaulted, what is that?” Hirono fired back. “Is she mistaken? She, herself, said she spoke to so many survivors from her state and elsewhere. All of us have been hearing stories and accounts from survivors going back many, many years where they kept all these painful, traumatic accounts to this is what happens with sexual assault survivors. They do not come forward.”