Dem senator says ‘we’re not in a court of law’ when asked about presumption of innocence for Kavanaugh

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) on Monday doubled down on comments she made over the weekend implying she does not think Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh deserves a presumption of innocence in the assessment of the sexual assault allegations against him because of his “ideological agenda.”

{mosads}“Look, we’re not in a court of law,” Hirono said on MSNBC when asked to clarify if she thought Kavanaugh deserved a presumption of innocence. “We’re actually in a court of credibility at this point and without having the FBI report or some semblance of trying to get corroboration we are left with the credibility of the two witnesses.”

She added that Kavanaugh’s credibility was “already questionable in her mind” because of how he rules on cases as a judge, an accusation she also made in her comments Sunday.

On Sunday, when asked if Kavanaugh deserved a presumption of innocence, Hirono told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, “I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases. His credibility is already very questionable in my mind and in the mind of a lot of my fellow Judiciary Committee members, the Democrats.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper: “Doesn’t Kavanaugh have the same presumption of innocence as anyone else in America?”

Sen. Mazie Hirono: “I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/E2UoZMzNhN pic.twitter.com/3mDb8ysskj

— CNN (@CNN) September 23, 2018

Hirono also alleged that Kavanaugh misapplies precedent to fit “an ideological agenda,” specifically his opposition to “women’s reproductive choice.”

Conservatives lashed out at Hirono’s comments.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel responded to the Sunday comments, saying Hirono’s remarks go “against the bedrock of our entire justice system.” 

“A Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (who graduated from law school) doesn’t believe in the presumption of innocence for conservatives,” she tweeted Sunday. “That’s terrifying and goes against the bedrock of our entire justice system.”

A Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (who graduated from law school) doesn’t believe in the presumption of innocence for conservatives.

That’s terrifying and goes against the bedrock of our entire justice system. pic.twitter.com/nuFzT3Cc4d

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) September 23, 2018

Kavanaugh has publicly been accused of sexual misconduct by two women: Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.

Ford alleges that Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her at a party in the summer of 1982. 

Kavanaugh has unequivocally denied the allegation and presented his calendars from 1982 to the Senate Judiciary committee, documents which show no trace of the party.

The three other people Ford has said attended the party with her and Kavanaugh have denied ever being at one even similar to what she has described.

Ford and Kavanaugh are set to testify before the committee this Thursday.

Ramirez alleged that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party in the 1980s in a bombshell report from The New Yorker Sunday.

The New York Times reported Sunday that it had briefly pursued the story but dropped it after interviewing “several dozen people” and finding “no one with firsthand knowledge” of the incident.

The New Yorker stated in its own piece that no eyewitnesses had confirmed that Kavanaugh attended the party. 

Kavanaugh has denied the allegation.

Adult-film actress Stormy Daniel’s attorney and rumored possible Democratic 2020 presidential candidate, Michael Avenatti, said Sunday that he has “credible information” from someone about Kavanaugh.

Avenatti wrote in an email to the chief counsel for nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mike Davis, of which he took a screenshot, that he is “aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the Washington, D.C. area during the early 1980s, during which Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge and others would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them.”

Avenatti stated that he has “multiple witnesses that will corroborate these facts and each of them must be called to testify publicly.”