The all-male Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have hired an outside attorney—a woman, of course—to be their stand-in questioning Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford during Thursday’s hearing about Ford’s sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh. Who is this professional fig leaf? We don’t know:
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO on Tuesday as he entered the Capitol for a weekly GOP meeting that "we aren't announcing the name for her safety." Asked if Republicans have received any indication of threats to the attorney they're preparing to use, Grassley said: "I don’t know, but I guess we’re just being cautious."
Yeah, cautious about protecting themselves from scrutiny over who they hired and why. Republicans know how bad they’d look to voters by questioning Ford in the hostile, sneering manner they would most certainly employ. They’re not about to change their ways, so they’re hiring a woman to make that hostility seem more palatable.
Also Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn complained that “people are coming out of the woodwork making incredible, uncorroborated allegations” and Donald Trump described the allegations against Kavanaugh as “unsubstantiated,” all while blocking the FBI investigation that could potentially substantiate or corroborate—or discredit—the allegations. But it’s so much easier to just smear the victims than to investigate what they have to say.
Republicans sure are working hard to prevent a serious investigation into Kavanaugh. You have to figure, at this point, that they’re sure it wouldn’t make him look good, just as they’re putting this mystery woman lawyer out front because they know their questions to Ford wouldn’t make them look good.