Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes bureau chief for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, Ariz., has been asked by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to question a woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted 36 years ago by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Just to be clear, Mitchell is not affiliated with former Maricopa County Sheriff and real-life villain Joe Arpaio, contrary to a fabricated claim shared this week by the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin.
Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced late Tuesday evening that Mitchell had been asked to question Christine Blasey Ford, who claims Kavanaugh tried to rape her in the early 1980s when they were both high school students.
“The goal is to de-politicize the process and get to the truth, instead of grandstanding and giving senators an opportunity to launch their presidential campaigns,” Grassley announced in a statement. “I’m very appreciative that Rachel Mitchell has stepped forward to serve in this important and serious role.”
Enter Rubin, who must’ve thought she had just a terrific response to Grassley’s announcement.
“Only this crowd of clueless old white guys wold [sic] pick someone from Sheriff Joe’s operation. I was saying no self-respecting lawyer would take the job of giving cover to GOP cowards. I was right,” she tweeted to her more than 200,000 followers, hitting most of the necessary beats required of a true #Resistance Twitter hero.
This tweet has been shared now by more than 9,000 social media users, which is a problem because it’s not even close to being true. It’s grossly ignorant, in fact. A whole two minutes of reading would’ve told Rubin that the Maricopa County attorney is elected separately from the Maricopa County sheriff and has a separate office. Further reading would’ve told her that the county attorney in Maricopa does not report to the sheriff. Another minute would’ve told her that Arpaio is on the record saying he doesn’t even know Mitchell.
The only thing that Mitchell and Arpaio share is the county in which they live.
“GET IT RIGHT Rachel Mitchell works for the elected Maricopa County attorney,” KPNX Reporter Brahm Resnik helpfully noted. “She has worked under at least three elected county attorneys during her time in that office. Arpaio was Maricopa County sheriff. Two separate elected offices.”
Attorney Thomas Galvin added elsewhere of the false claim: “This is wrong & dangerous bc you’re sowing doubt about a dedicated public servant who has prosecuted sex crimes on behalf of many women. The Maricopa Cty Attorney’s Office & the Sheriff’s Office r separate entities.”
But hey, at least Rubin got a solid “old white guys” dig in there. That must be worth at least 100 #Resistance points.
The author of the Post’s “Right Turn” blog (the name is now a running joke among conservatives) has not deleted the incorrect tweet. It’s still live, collecting those sweet, sweet #Resistance re-tweets.
With “conservative” bloggers like this, who needs liberal ones?
