More than three decades ago, the nation watched – both captivated and shocked – as a woman testifying at the Senate confirmation hearings of a presidential candidate was questioned in minute detail about the candidate’s alleged sexual misconduct. According to the accounts of several people involved in the trial, the committee failed to “seriously investigate” her allegations, refused to call other witnesses who could have corroborated her testimony, and even – despite prosecutor – allowed the candidate to testify first. Those hearings were so flawed that the person who had chaired the committee publicly noted in 2019, “To this day, I regret that I couldn’t figure out a way to give her the kind of hearing she deserved.”
That chairman was, of course, the then senator. Joe Biden, whose oversight — or lack thereof — of the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been much maligned, even by his allies. Even more unfortunate is that nearly 34 years later, as evidenced by Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, the Senate still has no standardized (much less sensitive or transparent) process for handling allegations of sexual misconduct against the presidential candidates over whom the Senate must exercise responsibility. constitutional “advice and consent” powers.
And of course there is the Trump of it all. Because we now also know that the Trump White House exercised “tight control” over the FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh, refusing to allow any independent investigation into those allegations, despite Trump’s public insistence that the FBI had carte blanche to do so .
Suspected FBI involvement in a confirmation process for former Rep. Matt Gaetz after the inauguration would also have been futile – and stymied by the 47th president.
But thanks to Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration to serve as Trump’s attorney general, we narrowly escaped another hearing spectacle.
Not only was Gaetz the subject of a now-closed sex trafficking investigation initiated by Trump’s own Justice Department in late 2020, he was also investigated by the House Ethics Committee for a variety of issues, including “sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.” (Gaetz’s resignation from Congress is expected to put an end to that investigation, and the report may never see the light of day.)
According to NBC News, evidence received by the committee included testimony from a woman who said she had two sexual encounters with Gaetz at a party in 2017 when she was 17. Gaetz has strongly denied the allegations and the DOJ investigation was closed without any evidence. charges against him.
Prior to Gaetz’s withdrawal, Republican and Democratic senators both called for the release — or at least their review — of the Ethics Commission report and/or its investigative materials; Most Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have also asked the FBI to provide them with their “complete evidence,” including transcripts of witness interviews. But at least until Thursday, there was no indication that senators obtained either type of document.
As a result, there was a real possibility that several women who had already testified — before a federal grand jury, the House Ethics Committee, or both, regarding their involvement with Gaetz — would be forced under subpoena to do it all again.
But based on the limited amount we know about these women and how we’ve seen the Senate respond to prosecutors and victims in the past, the third time wouldn’t have been a charm.
Consider what Joel Leppard, an attorney for two women who testified that they were paid for sex by Gaetz, told NBC News in an interview earlier this week. Leppard explained that, based on his conversations with his clients and his own observations, the women:
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Provide ‘meager means’ and live from paycheck to paycheck. Back then, they did sex work (which they no longer do) to pay their rent; one of them, despite the committee’s offer to fly her to Washington for her testimony, instead testified over Zoom during her lunch break because she couldn’t afford to miss work.
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They were “strong women” who were nonetheless humiliated by the process of testifying before the grand jury, seeing naked photos of themselves blown up on a big screen, and both crying during their House Ethics meetings.
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Are still emotionally processing their experiences and have undergone counseling. When asked during her testimony in the House of Representatives whether she considers herself a victim, someone burst into tears and said, “I don’t know how to answer that,” reflecting that it was a “very difficult question.” was.
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Remain concerned about their safety as strangers are already jumping out of the bushes at them, and they worry about ‘doing their job and someone attacking them’.
Not to mention what the then 17-year-old, who would undoubtedly have been even more important in any confirmation hearings, has already endured and would have experienced.
On Thursday, after Gaetz withdrew, Leppard told NBC News: “My clients are relieved to have this chapter behind them and are eager to move on with their lives. We are hopeful that this will provide final closure for all parties involved.”
But as they move forward, Pete Hegseth is still on the verge of being nominated as Secretary of Defense, despite an allegation of sexual assault documented in a now-public police report and an admitted payout to his accuser. (Hegseth denies any wrongdoing and no charges have been filed against him.)
Will anyone in the Senate have the strength to look back on the Thomas and Kavanaugh hearings — and learn from them — before another woman becomes this generation’s Anita Hill or Christine Blasey Ford?
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
