Feinstein On Grassley Interruptions: ‘You Get To Expect Those Things Here’

on July 24, 2018 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) testifies during a hearing before the Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security Subcommittee of Senate Commerce, Science, and Trans... WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) testifies during a hearing before the Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security Subcommittee of Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee July 24, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was to focus on changes made by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Gymnastics (USAG), and Michigan State University (MSU) to protect Olympic and amateur athletes from abuse. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Thursday that she was unbothered that her GOP colleague Chuck Grassley (R-IA) repeatedly interrupted her at a high-stakes hearing on sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.

“You get to expect those things here,” Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told TPM.

“The message here is much bigger: you see what this kind of thing does to a woman,” Feinstein continued, referring to the alleged assault. “And I think that’s very important. And how hard this must be.”

Christine Blasey Ford testified Thursday that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a small house party in the summer of 1982. At the top of the hearing, Grassley interrupted Feinstein as she was introducing Ford to the audience, saying he’d intended to make the introduction. He also cut into the questioning of Rachel Mitchell, the GOP’s outside counsel, to tell her it was time for Democratic lawmakers to ask questions.

Asked about the lines of questioning laid out by Mitchell, Feinstein declined to comment.

“It seems to me that one of the things that you do when you’re here and you’re on a committee is you ask your own questions,” Feinstein said of her GOP colleagues.

With reporting from Cameron Joseph.

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