RNC Chair: Dem senator ‘doesn’t believe in the presumption of innocence for conservatives’

The chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna Romney McDaniel, on Sunday lashed out at a Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) over her comments saying she doubted Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s denial of sexual assault allegations against him because of his “ideological agenda.”

{mosads}McDaniel said those comments show the senator does not believe in the “presumption of innocence” when it comes to conservatives.

“A Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (who graduated from law school) doesn’t believe in the presumption of innocence for conservatives,” McDaniel wrote on Twitter Sunday. “That’s terrifying and goes against the bedrock of our entire justice system.”

A Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (who graduated from law school) doesn’t believe in the presumption of innocence for conservatives.

That’s terrifying and goes against the bedrock of our entire justice system. pic.twitter.com/nuFzT3Cc4d

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) September 23, 2018

In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Hirono said, “I put his denial in the context of everything I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases.”

“His credibility is already very questionable in my mind and the minds of a lot of my fellow Judiciary Committee members, the Democrats,” she explained.

Hirono said that Kavanaugh, who takes an originalist position on law, has “an ideological agenda.”

“I can sit here and talk to you about some of the cases that exemplifies his, in my view, inability to be fair in the cases that come before him,” she said, adding that Kavanaugh is “very much against women’s reproductive choice.”

Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of attempting to sexually assault her at a party in 1982, something Kavanaugh has vehemently denied. 

Three other people Ford alleges attended the party with her and Kavanaugh have stated that they have never been to a party even similar to the one she described. 

Kavanaugh turned in his calendars from 1982 to the Senate committee, documents which do not show the party Ford mentioned.

Both Ford and Kavanaugh are set to testify at a hearing this Thursday regarding Ford’s allegations.

After Hirono spoke with CNN, The New Yorker broke new allegations against Kavanaugh from Deborah Ramirez, who says he exposed himself to her at a party in college. 

Kavanaugh denied the allegation, saying it was a “smear, plain and simple.”

The New York Times reported Sunday that it had passed on the story, after interviewing “several dozen people” trying to corroborate Ramirez’s story and finding “no one with firsthand knowledge” of the incident.

The New Yorker said in its piece that it had not confirmed with other eyewitnesses that Kavanaugh attended the party.

Michael Avenatti, a potential Democratic 2020 contender who is representing adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in a suit against President Trump, said Sunday that he is representing a client with “credible information” about Kavanaugh. 

He did not make clear if the person was accusing Kavanaugh of anything or who they were.