Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) waved away a group of female protesters on Thursday and told them to “grow up.”
{mosads}Video posted on Twitter by the group Vote Pro Choice shows protesters confronting the Republican senator as he enters an elevator on Capitol Hill.
“Why aren’t you brave enough to talk to us and exchange with us?” one of the protesters asks Hatch. Hatch responds by waving his hand at her, which results in the woman shouting, “Don’t you wave your hand at me!”
“When you grow up I’ll be glad to,” Hatch can be heard saying as he enters the elevator.
“How dare you talk to women that way?” one woman shouts as Hatch waited for the elevator doors to close.
Hatch’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill about the exchange.
The comment came moments after Hatch said in a press conference that both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the FBI had found nothing to corroborate allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“After investigations from both the committee and FBI, we have found nothing to corroborate accusations against him and we need to confirm him right away,” Hatch said. “His confirmation will be a victory for the Senate as an institution.”
Last week, Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Ford’s claims that he sexually assaulted her at a high school party in the 1980s.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced in a statement earlier on Thursday that findings from the FBI’s investigation into Kavanaugh showed that there was no corroboration for Ford’s claims.
Meanwhile, Democrats have criticized the report’s release, saying that the probe was not conducted fairly.
“We had many fears that this was a very limited process that would constrain the FBI from getting the facts. … Those fears have been realized,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y) said at a press conference.
The Senate is set to move ahead with a procedural vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Friday.