AZ Lawyer With Background In Sexual Assault Cases Will Do Questioning For GOP

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) arrives for the weekly GOP policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, September 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. Christine Blasey Ford, w... WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) arrives for the weekly GOP policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, September 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have chosen Arizona prosector Rachel Mitchell, who has a background in handling sexual assault cases, to handle the questioning of Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who’s accused him of assault during the hearing on Thursday.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced the decision in a statement on Tuesday evening. Mitchell, a registered Republican, is the head of the special victims unit of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Arizona, the Washington Post reported. She handles cases that deal with sex offenses, domestic and family violence, as well as the abuse of children and sexual assault cases. Mitchell reportedly has a history of investigating sexual crimes that occurred years before and even worked on unresolved sex cases that were scantly investigated by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Republicans opted to bring in a female lawyer to handle the questioning of Christine Blasey Ford, as well as Kavanaugh, in order to avoid what could appear as an insensitive line of questioning of a female accuser from a group of all white men.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jmacaz jmacaz says:

    Republicans opted to bring in a female lawyer to handle the questioning of Christine Blasey Ford, as well as Kavanaugh, in order to avoid what could appear as an insensitive line of questioning of a female accuser from a group of all white men.

    Who wrote the questions? How often will those OLD white mail senators huddle with Ms Mitchell to advise her what they want asked? If these huddles occur will we get to hear what is said?

    What I hear the GOP Senators saying is that they cannot be fair to a woman. I hope the female portion of the population pays close attention and votes accordingly on Nov 6.

  2. She’s an experienced sex crimes prosecutor? Shouldn’t she be questioning Kavanaugh?

  3. Democrats, who are going to do their own questioning, will have 5 minutes per senator. I hope that the prosecutor will have to go in 5-minute gulps, too, and not be allotted a solid hour (well, 55 minutes–5 minutes for each of the 11 Republicans) to grill Dr. Blasey Ford.

  4. Nice try with the obvious and superficial attempt to improve the “optics,” fellers, but you’re still screwed either way. Fail with Kavanaugh and you look like weak failed failures and your base tends more to stay home. Put him on the bench and women concerned for their human dignity rise up. Probably shouldn’t have nominated this huge walk-in skeleton closet, but what’s done is done. Idiots.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

46 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for labman57 Avatar for rudolphschnaubelt Avatar for ottnott Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for dickweed Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for jinnj Avatar for clauscph Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for guysmiley Avatar for jmacaz Avatar for lisaaug Avatar for nigeldh Avatar for jruss Avatar for socalista Avatar for maximus Avatar for ekcambridge Avatar for enhancedthespian Avatar for causeforconcern Avatar for occamscoin

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: