Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed Wednesday that the death threats that have allegedly been made against Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford are \u201cwitness\u2026<\/b>
\nDemocratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed Wednesday that the death threats that have allegedly been made against Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford are \u201cwitness tampering,\u201d and that the FBI should investigate them.
\u201cWhy doesn\u2019t the FBI go and investigate that?\u201d Hirono told MSNBC\u2019s Rachel Maddow. \u201cThey do not need to have the president tell them to do it.
WATCH:
The MSNBC host asked Hirono about the possibility of an \u201coutside investigative council,\u201d since the FBI is declining to investigate Ford\u2019s claims. The Democratic senator, however, isn\u2019t giving up on an FBI investigation.
Hirono said, \u201cWe all know that she is being threatened. You know, isn\u2019t that witness tampering? Isn\u2019t that a crime? Why does the FBI have to wait around for the president to say, go do your jobs? Why don\u2019t they do their jobs? I think there is a crime that is occurring now. She\u2019s afraid to come testify, not to mention, she is not getting a fair deal.\u201d
\u201cI think when she said that she wanted to testify, she would participate, I think she expected a modicum of fairness,\u201d Hirono said. \u201cThat\u2019s not what she getting. Why the heck should she participate in a basically a situation that is so disadvantageous to her and that re-victimizes her? This is exactly what happened to Anita Hill.\u201d
Even Maddow seemed shocked by Hirono\u2019s claims and asked the senator to clarify her remarks saying.
\u201cSenator, just to underscore what you just said there. You are suggesting that the efforts that have been made to threaten Dr. Blasey Ford since she came out, her lawyers have said that she has had to leave her home, there have been death threats, she\u2019s been impersonated online \u2026 you\u2019re saying that should be investigated federally as a law enforcement matter as witness tampering?\u201d
Hirono confirmed, \u201cThat sounds like witness tampering to me. So why doesn\u2019t the FBI go and investigate that? They do not need to have the president tell them to do it.\u201d
18 U. S. Code \u00a7 1512 provides a lengthy definition of tampering with a witness, victim or an informant. The definition includes:
\u201c(2) Whoever uses physical force or the threat of physical force against any person, or attempts to do so, with intent to\u2014 (A) influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding; (B) cause or induce any person to\u2014 (i) withhold testimony, or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding; (ii) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object with intent to impair the integrity or availability of the object for use in an official proceeding; (iii) evade legal process summoning that person to appear as a witness, or to produce a record, document, or other object, in an official proceeding; or (iv) be absent from an official proceeding to which that person has been summoned by legal process; or (C) hinder, delay, or prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer or judge of the United States of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a Federal offense or a violation of conditions of probation, supervised release, parole, or release pending judicial proceedings; shall be punished as provided in paragraph (3).
(3) The punishment for an offense under this subsection is\u2014 (A) in the case of a killing, the punishment provided in sections 1111 and 1112; (B) in the case of\u2014 (i) an attempt to murder; or (ii) the use or attempted use of physical force against any person; imprisonment for not more than 30 years; and (C) in the case of the threat of use of physical force against any person, imprisonment for not more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

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