Melissa Joskow / Media Matters
The two days of public questioning of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have featured explosive, important, and revealing moments -- at least when Democrats were asking the questions. However, the public may have missed these instances because the evening news shows on three major cable news channels and broadcast networks paid insufficient attention to the hearing, breaking off from it hours early or devoting more coverage to dysfunction in the Trump administration.
According to some media reports, Republicans were confident that the hearings would go smoothly and that efforts of Kavanaugh’s opponents “failed to get serious traction” before the hearings began. Perhaps that’s because in the lead-up to the hearing, the network evening news shows barely even mentioned Kavanaugh’s name, and as the hearing continues, they are focusing much more coverage on the latest revelation of chaos in the Trump White House. And let’s not forget that Associated Press wire stories about the Supreme Court nominee in the first six weeks since Kavanaugh’s nomination featured about 50 percent more pro-Kavanaugh voices than anti-Kavanaugh voices. News organizations have been treating Kavanaugh’s nomination as an inevitable confirmation -- but some revelatory exchanges from the hearing should change that.
Here are some of the most illuminating moments you may have missed:
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) repeatedly questioned Kavanaugh on his use of documents stolen from Democratic staffers when Kavanaugh worked on judicial nominations for the George W. Bush White House. He further explored whether Kavanaugh’s claim that he didn’t know the documents were stolen is believable:
🚨LEAHY: When you worked at the WH, did anyone ever tell you they had a mole that provided them with secret info?
KAVANAUGH: I don't recall
L: You never received an email from a GOP staff member w/info claiming to come from spying?
K: I'm not going to rule anything out. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/NqWymwZOnG— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2018
LEAHY: Here you are getting obviously very private Democratic emails. You weren't concerned how Mr. Miranda got them?
KAVANAUGH: I guess I'm not sure about your premise.
L: Were you concerned where the emails came from?
K: I don't recall. pic.twitter.com/TsMAaH80me— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2018
Grassley, who yesterday touted Kavanaugh's process for its purported transparency, won't agree to Leahy's request to make public Bush-era emails that might contain evidence of perjury pic.twitter.com/mQwuHVfqya
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2018
Leahy also questioned Kavanaugh over President Donald Trump’s insistence he has “the absolute right” to pardon himself of any crime:
Sen. Patrick Leahy: “President Trump claims he has an absolute right to pardon himself. Does he?”
Brett Kavanaugh: “The question of self-pardons is something I have never analyzed. It's a question I have not written about ... it's a hypothetical question” https://t.co/WQ5biYuAIX pic.twitter.com/KJk8wC6Uxz— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 5, 2018
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) rattled Kavanaugh by asking him whether he'd ever discussed special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation with anyone working at the law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, which was founded by Trump’s personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz:
California senator Kamala Harris grilling Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, about the Mueller investigation is EVERYTHING!!! I looked up her previous profession and, yes, she was a lawyer!! pic.twitter.com/0GE1sQ7sCk
— Perez (@ThePerezHilton) September 6, 2018
Harris questioned Kavanaugh on reproductive rights and pressed him to name any laws that allow the government to regulate male bodies. He could not:
After refusing to say whether he agrees that government shouldn't have the right to control women's bodies, Kavanaugh is dumbfounded when Harris asks him if he can think of any laws giving government power over male bodies. (he can't) pic.twitter.com/pAYfDRUKf4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 6, 2018
Harris also explained to Kavanaugh that a phrase he used in an op-ed, “racial spoils system,” is “commonly used by white supremacists”:
WATCH: It happened late last night. But Sen Kamala Harris nailed Kavanaugh with his own words about race and affirmative action. pic.twitter.com/dwQ6iynFia
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) September 6, 2018
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) exposed that Kavanaugh “disparaged the Native Hawaiian community” in an op-ed he wrote:
In 1999, Judge Kavanaugh wrote an op-ed and amicus brief that disparaged the Native Hawaiian community. He wrongly asserts that Native Hawaiians are not an indigenous community. I won't let that stand. #StopKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/6sc0vNRyNu
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) September 6, 2018
Hirono highlighted Kavanaugh’s relationship to disgraced former Judge Alex Kozinski, whose behavior, according to Hirono, was “so notorious that professors began to warn female students not to apply for clerkships with him.” She questioned whether Kavanaugh knew of Kozinski’s sexual misconduct. He said he did not:
Last December, 15 brave women came forward and shared their stories of sexual assault and harassment by Alex Kozinski, a mentor of Judge Kavanaugh's. Judge Kozinski's behavior was an open secret, yet Judge Kavanaugh said he saw nothing, heard nothing, and obviously, said nothing. pic.twitter.com/jdzIQ69bev
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) September 5, 2018
Hirono also brought attention to Kavanaugh’s attempt to erect an unnecessary barrier to a minor immigrant obtaining an abortion:
Judge Kavanaugh continued to evade answers on whether or not women have a fundamental, Constitutionally-protected right to an abortion. But his extreme dissent in Garza v. Hargan tells us all we need to know. He would be the key vote on weakening or overturning Roe #StopKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/nwl8pAG4Ei
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) September 6, 2018
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he hoped Kavanaugh would ask for his own hearing to be suspended in light of Republicans withholding a massive amount of documents related to Kavanaugh’s history:
Sen. Durbin: “If you believe that your public record is one that you can stand behind & defend, I hope... you will ask this committee to suspend until we are given all the documents.. if you will trust the American people, they will trust you.” #Kavanaughpic.twitter.com/AZC1IZwZQU
— Psychonaut (@WakingLifeDream) September 4, 2018
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) challenged the farcical claim by the Republican majority that 42,000 documents released the evening before the hearing could be reviewed before the hearing started:
.@amyklobuchar : 42,000 documents were dumped on us last night. We simply can't review that much material in 12 hours.
GRASSLEY: Well, Republicans had the same amount of time, and we're not complaining.
KLOBUCHAR: .... Yeah, that's kinda the point. pic.twitter.com/hBGLRBL5hb— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2018
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) highlighted the role of right-wing and corporate dark money behind Kavanaugh’s nomination:
federalist society: *ushers brett kavanaugh through the judicial system for years, in sole preparation for this moment*
sen. whitehouse: can you tell me anything about the federalist society
kavanaugh: lol new phone who dispic.twitter.com/3ZPnhQrEOn— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) September 5, 2018
During one of the few interesting exchanges involving a Republican senator, Kavanaugh indicated his belief that birth control medications are “abortion-inducing drugs” while being questioned by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX):
Brett Kavanaugh appears to refer to birth control pills as “abortion-inducing drugs.” (via PBS) https://t.co/CF3ZYA8Dq8 pic.twitter.com/O1gAQVdrpY
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 6, 2018
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) eviscerated Kavanaugh for his dodges on giving his view on Roe v. Wade:
Blumenthal: Calling Roe v. Wade “existing Supreme Court precedent” is like "somebody introducing his wife to you as my current wife. You might not expect that wife to be around for all that long.”
Make no mistake: A vote for Kavanaugh is a vote to criminalize abortion. pic.twitter.com/IpSHMHGQ45— Stand Up America (@StandUpAmerica) September 5, 2018
Unfortunately, cable news viewers missed several of these moments as the channels instead covered other topics. On September 5, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all skipped at least five full hours of questioning. And on September 6, CNN and MSNBC stopped most of their live coverage of Kavanaugh even earlier. The media’s apathy over all the scandals and controversies surrounding the Kavanaugh nomination and confirmation process must end.