Katy Tur, the MSNBC anchor whose elevation to know-nothing cable news pundit is apparently attributable to President Trump being mean to her during the 2016 presidential election, claimed falsely this week that not a single Republican senator extended a kind or thoughtful word to Christine Blasey Ford when she testified before Congress.
“It will no doubt resonate that each GOP Senator starts his time by apologizing to Kavanaugh for what he is going through, while none took their time to apologize to Dr Ford what she has been through,” Tur tweeted Thursday to her more than 560,000 Twitter followers.
Her note, which has been shared by more than 16,000 social media users, is just wrong.
First, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, most absolutely extended his sympathies to Ford, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when they were both in high school.
“Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have been through a terrible couple weeks. They and their families have received vile threats. What they have endured ought to be considered by all of us as unacceptable and a poor reflection on the state of civility in our democracy,” the senator said. “So I want to apologize to you both for the way you’ve been treated. And I intend, hopefully, for today’s hearing to be safe, comfortable, and dignified for both of our witnesses. I hope my colleagues will join me in this effort of a show of civility.”
At the very end of Ford’s testimony, just before the committee adjourned for lunch, Grassley also said, “Dr. Ford … I can only speak as one of 21 senators here, but I thank you very much for your testimony, more importantly, for your bravery coming out, and trying to answer our questions as best you could remember. Thank you very much.”
Second, Tur might have considered mentioning that, other than the chairman and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who asked Grassley a procedural question just before the committee broke for lunch, none of the GOP members on the committee said anything during Ford’s portion of the hearing. Not a word. They all agreed prior to Ford’s testimony to cede their time to sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who Republicans called up from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, Ariz.
And in her capacity as speaking on behalf of the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mitchell definitely also extended thanks and sympathies to Ford.
“I just wanted to tell you the — the first thing that struck me from your statement this morning was that you are terrified, and I just wanted to let you know I’m very sorry. That’s not right,” Mitchell said before asking any questions.
Third, each GOP senator did not start his time by apologizing to Kavanaugh. Mitchell spoke for the first three Republican senators on the committee during the Kavanaugh portion of Thursday’s testimony. It wasn’t until Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., delivered an extremely angry defense of the Supreme Court nominee that the Republican committee members stopped ceding their time to Mitchell.
Tur followed up eventually on her still-live tweet with a mealy-mouthed correction, which reads: “Pardon me, except for Grassley.”
So, if I understand this correctly, Tur’s contention here is that “none” of the Republicans “took their time to apologize” to the alleged victim for “what she has been through,” except for when literally the only Republican to speak during Ford’s portion of the hearing apologized to her for what she has been put through. Solid points all around.
As is customary in such cases for #Resistance journalists, the incorrect tweet is left up to misinform people.
