September 27, 2018

Chuck Grassley Is Furious and Full of Interruptions at Christine Blasey Ford’s Testimony

Here are some of the worst moments by the Senate Judiciary chairman.

Erin Schaff/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) kicked off Thursday’s much-anticipated testimony from Christine Blasey Ford by attacking Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s handling of a confidential letter Ford had sent to the California Democrat detailing her alleged assault, claiming it was Democrats—not Republicans—who were guilty of mistreating Ford.

As Ford waited to begin her testimony, Grassley continued by using his opening remarks to shoot down calls from Ford and Democrats for the FBI to investigate her sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He then interrupted Feinstein during her opening remarks when she accurately pointed out Grassley had failed to properly introduce Ford.

“I was going to introduce her, but if you want to introduce her, I’d be glad to have you do that,” Grassley shot back, visibly irritated. “But I want you to know I didn’t forget to do that because I would do that just as she was about to speak.”

The interruption was the first of many by Grassley during Ford’s testimony, in which the chairman appeared defensive and highly combative toward his Democratic colleagues. At one point, he angrily rejected Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) charges that Republicans on the committee were blocking an FBI investigation into Ford’s allegations, pointing the finger at Democrats for what he repeatedly claimed was a mishandling of the situation. In another instance, Grassley claimed he was the one being “rudely interrupted” when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) requested Republicans share documents that were the focus of some questions directed to Ford. 

The moments with Grassley, both tense and shocking, likely further damaged Republicans’ standing as Ford spoke publicly for the first time, in deeply emotional terms, of her sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh. 

“What is the strongest memory you have, the strongest memory of the incident, something that you cannot forget?” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked during his questioning of Ford. “Take whatever time you need.”

“Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter,” Ford said as her voice broke. “The uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense.”

Grassley’s aggression aside, many also noted that the five-minute, “female assistant” format the chairman had specifically imposed for Thursday’s hearing was also backfiring.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate