Democrat Congressman: Trump 'Racist' for Attacking Harris' and Booker's Conduct During Hearing
California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell on Friday accused President Donald Trump of engaging in “racism” by calling out liberals for their “sick” conduct in opposing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
During a rally in Billings, Montana on Thursday night, Trump spoke of the actions of “extreme liberals” in their efforts to resist his presidency.
“I’m talking about serious liberals, many of whom you’re watching attacking Judge Kavanaugh and looking like fools,” the president said.
“He is doing really well, but do you believe the anger and the meanness on the other side? Sick! It’s sick!” he added.
During a Friday morning appearance on Fox News, Swalwell said Trump’s comments were really directed at Judiciary Committee members Sens. Corey Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, both of whom are reputedly weighing presidential runs in 2020.
“What he means is he’s attacking the black senators,” Swalwell said. “We’ve seen this before. He called Maxine Waters, you know, a low IQ individual, now he’s talking about Kamala Harris and Cory Booker and calling them fools.”
Fox News anchor Sandra Smith challenged the congressman’s assertion: “I think he was referencing the display they put on in these hearings by objecting out of the gate and this document release.”
“We’ve seen these attacks before where he attacks African-Americans and goes after their intelligence rather than their arguments or their line of reasoning or tries to counter them with any ideas of his own,” Swalwell said. “So I just see this as more racism by the president and it’s dog-whistling that he’s doing.”
Harris objected to the hearing going forward within seconds of Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, beginning the proceedings on Tuesday, claiming the senators on the committee did not have all the relevant documents related to Kavanaugh’s nomination, nor time to review all the documents they had.
Later, she also expressed “concern” over whether Kavanaugh could be entrusted to equally apply the law to people of all races and backgrounds due to his conservative political beliefs.
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin characterized some of Harris’ questioning of Kavanaugh as “puzzling” and “unfair.”
Booker released multiple documents publicly deemed “committee classified,” urging colleague Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to “bring it,” when the GOP lawmaker said the Democrat could be subject to expulsion from the Senate for his conduct.
“This is probably the closest in my life to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment” – Sen. Cory Booker pledges to defy rules and release ‘confidential’ Kavanaugh emails that were already cleared for release pic.twitter.com/qDxt4QnDca
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 7, 2018
“No senator deserves to sit on this committee, or serve in the Senate, in my view, if they decide to be a law unto themselves and willingly flout the rules of the Senate and the determination of confidentiality and classification,” Cornyn said.
“Running for president is not an excuse for violating the rules of the Senate,” the Texan added, accusing Booker of grandstanding for the sake of his reputed 2020 presidential ambitions.
Like Harris, Booker appeared to suggest Kavanaugh could be guilty of racism, saying — with a dramatic “I am Spartacus” declaration — that the first email he intended to release in defiance of Senate rules had the subject line “racial profiling.”
The January 2002 email, which Kavanaugh wrote while serving as an attorney in the George W. Bush White House, had in fact already been approved for public release by Bush’s documents representative, which Booker apparently knew.
In it, Kavanaugh argued for race-neutral security measures in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
During the first day of Kavanaugh’s hearing Tuesday, Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee, in a pre-planned move, interrupted the proceedings 44 times in the first hour.
Additionally, Capitol Police arrested 70 protesters from the audience for disrupting the hearing with loud shouts.
The room became so volatile at one point that Kavanaugh wife took the couple’s two young daughters, 13-year-old Margaret and 10-year-old Liza, from the room.
Trump tweeted that day, “The Brett Kavanaugh hearings for the future Justice of the Supreme Court are truly a display of how mean, angry, and despicable the other side is.”
In a follow-up tweet, he added: “They will say anything, and are only looking to inflict pain and embarrassment to one of the most highly renowned jurists to ever appear before Congress. So sad to see!”
….looking to inflict pain and embarrassment to one of the most highly renowned jurists to ever appear before Congress. So sad to see!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2018
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