Hawaii Sen. Maizie Hirono (D) slammed Republicans over claims that GOP staffers have done „everything“ possible to contact Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Brett…
Hawaii Sen. Maizie Hirono (D) slammed Republicans over claims that GOP staffers have done „everything“ possible to contact Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Hirono called the assertions that Republicans had exhausted every method to contact Ford „bullshit,“ referring to a letter from Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to Democrats on the committee this week.
„I would like for us to come together and figure out what’s the best way to proceed,“ Hirono says in the video.
„Not this seat-of-the-pants stuff,“ she added, saying that „the latest, being a letter from the chairman to the Democrats saying ‚we have done everything we can to contact her.‘ That is such bullshit I can’t hardly stand it.“
A communications aide for Grassley’s office responded, however, calling Hirono’s claim „nonsense“ and stating that the committee had made multiple attempts to contact Ford directly.
„This is such nonsense. The Committee has sent 9 emails and left 2 voicemails,“ communications adviser Garrett Ventry wrote on Twitter.
Ford entered the national spotlight over the weekend after she came forward in a Washington Post interview with an allegation that Kavanaugh had forcibly groped her while holding her down and muffling her screams for help at a high school party when the two were students.
Democrats on the Judiciary panel have called for Ford’s testimony to be heard after an FBI investigation into the claims is completed, while Republicans want Ford and Kavanaugh to testify on the allegations at a planned special hearing on Monday.
Ford’s attorney slammed that request in a statement to news outlets on Wednesday, but the statement did not specifically deny that the California professor would appear to testify.
„The rush to a hearing is unnecessary, and contrary to the Committee discovering the truth,“ attorney Lisa Banks says in the statement.
„She continues to believe that a full non-partisan investigation of this matter is needed and she is willing to cooperate with the Committee,“ Banks continued.
