‘Due process’: Alyssa Milano uses conservative argument from Kavanaugh hearings to defend Joe Biden

In the clip, Milano said she believed it’s important to provide men with “due process” when they are publicly accused of sexual misconduct.

“I believe that, even though we should believe women. … For so long, the go-to has been not to believe them. So really, we have to sort of societally change that mindset to believing women, but that does not mean at the expense of not giving men their due process,” she said. “I don’t feel comfortable throwing away a decent man that I’ve known for 15 years.”

Biden was recently accused of sexual assault by Tara Reade, his Senate aide from 1992 to 1993. According to Reade, Biden ran his hand underneath her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers.

Milano was an ardent opponent of Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court in 2018, saying it was “difficult” to be in the same room as the high court nominee, who was facing sexual misconduct accusations from his high school classmate Christine Blasey Ford.

“I thought it was important to stand in solidarity with Dr. Ford and all women and men who have been victims of crazy abuses of power,” she said of the process. “And I felt blessed to be able to do that and to be there, no matter how stoic I had to be and sort of prevent myself from, you know, rolling my eyes. I just had to sit there and be stoic, and that was difficult. It was definitely an exercise in how to constrain and restrain yourself.”

Fellow #MeToo activist Rose McGowan slammed Milano, tweeting, “You are a fraud. This is about holding the media accountable. You go after Trump & Kavanaugh saying Believe Victims, you are a lie. You have always been a lie. The corrupt DNC is in on the smear job of Tara Reade, so are you. SHAME.”

Some supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also asserted that Milano’s position was hypocritical, while others called it “disqualifying.”

“Which is more sexist: people calling out media bias, or throwing the #metoo under the bus the moment it’s politically inconvenient?” tweeted Sanders campaign spokeswoman Briahna Joy Gray.

Conservatives, many of whom argued in favor of due process for Kavanaugh, were also quick to highlight what they viewed as inconsistency from Milano.

Milano later defended herself in a Twitter thread, writing, “#BelieveWomen does not mean everyone gets to accuse anyone of anything and that’s that. It means that our societal mindset and default reaction shouldn’t be that women are lying.”

She added, “I believe, along with many others in this space, that accusations need to be investigated with due process for the accused. This is the only way for the movement to work & create the change we are fighting for. Anything less puts the entire movement and women’s equality at risk.”