While much of Fox’s Outnumbered panel seemed in shock after Julie Swetnick came forward as the third woman to publicly accuse Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, cohost Harris Faulkner was thinking up ways to defend the Supreme Court nominee.
This Wednesday morning, attorney Michael Avenatti released the sworn declaration from Swetnick. It contains very specific and very horrific details about Kavanaugh’s behavior that are in line with the allegations made by both Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.
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But leave it to Trumper Faulkner to find the pony for Kavanaugh. Faulkner prodded Republican guest David Avella to pick up and run with her defense ideas:
FAULKNER: Judge Kavanaugh - now, for the first time, really, because we haven’t heard from Dr. Ford – knows specifics that he can then approach and deny. I mean, this gives him an opportunity, David, to come out and say, “This didn’t happen on this date,” to maybe coordinate that with the calendar that he and his attorneys have already offered up. I mean, this has the kind of specificity that he could scream about from the hills and clear his name.
Avella agreed and said that Kavanaugh should get his story out during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing tomorrow. “That’s why the hearing is so important and why the vote should still occur as quickly as possible,” he said.
Cohost Capri Cafaro jumped in. She’s a Fox News Democrat whom the network can count on to promote or at least bolster GOP talking points. In this case, Cafaro claimed to be “absolutely baffled” by the situation. She did not question Avella's desire to ram through the Kavanaugh vote just as important new information has come out. However, Cafaro also said that as a former social worker who has done a lot of work on behalf of sexual assault victims, she found Swetnick’s declaration very damning. “When you see something like this, that is under oath, that has explicit dates and –"
Oops, that was too much for Faulkner. She excitedly interrupted Cafaro to change the subject by attacking the Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). "You know who else was supposed to advocate for women in all of this?"
Cafaro eagerly replied, “Dianne Feinstein!”
“Why in the world, did she sit on this and give no one an opportunity to come forth with their facts?” Faulkner “asked.”
Cafaro was completely on board with Faulkner’s deflection. “I am not the only Democrat that’s upset about that,” she helpfully added.
Faulkner continued, “Why in the world, would anybody who’s advocating for justice for men and women, ‘cause that’s the position that she’s in, she’s on the Judiciary Committee –“
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cafaro interrupted.
Faulkner later suggested that Ford should maybe pass off her testimony to someone else tomorrow so that Swetnick’s allegations can come into the hearing, though it was unknown if that would be allowable procedure.
It was not clear if Faulkner’s intention was to provide Kavanaugh a vehicle to make the defense she had earlier offered up or whether she wanted a more comprehensive hearing because Swetnick’s declaration deserves a full airing.
Even if Faulkner had a moment of decency at the end, there’s no doubt of her partisan maneuvers earlier on. Watch them above, from the September 26, 2018 Outnumbered.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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