Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce a run for president some time in April and has been testing the waters and smoothing over rough spots from his past. As part of that effort Tuesday night, he made yet another public apology to Anita Hill, the law clerk who falsely accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. The apology drew the attention of the CBS Evening News, who highlighted it Wednesday.
“Former Vice President Joe Biden is trying to clear up some past issues ahead of his expected announcement that he's joining 14 other Democrats in a run for the White House. Last night he brought us his role in a controversial Senate confirmation hearing from 28 years ago,” announced anchor Jeff Glor.
Legal correspondent Jan Crawford reminded viewers that “Joe Biden, of course, ran those hearings. He was chair of the Democratically-controlled Judiciary Committee in 1991 when Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.”
CBS (and the rest of the liberal media) often use the Hill hearing as an example of government failing to protect a victim of sexual misconduct, despite the fact that Hill’s testimony was highly flawed and contradicted by many.
As The New York Times reported in 1991, “…the F.B.I. report as finding the allegations as 'without foundation.' But Congressional officials who have seen the report said the bureau could not draw any conclusion because of the 'he said, she said' nature of the subject.”
“And it's now a potential problem for Biden, which he seems to recognize, as he considers a presidential run in a field of women and minority Democratic contenders,” Crawford continued. “It's not the first time Biden has expressed regret. In 2017, he was asked about Hill's assertion that the Judiciary Committee treated her unfairly.”
Almost to Biden’s detriment, Crawford noted how Hill really didn’t care about his apologies:
CRAWFORD: Hill told The Washington Post, after that interview, “that's sort of a ‘I'm sorry if you were offended.’” And last year, she told Elle magazine, “it's becoming sort of a running joke in the household when someone rings the doorbell and we're not expecting company. ‘Oh,’ we say, is that Joe Biden coming to apologize?”
[Cuts back to live]
Now, Hill said there are more important things to her than hearing an apology from Joe Biden.
But, as with seemingly everything associated with the Hill testimony, the facts be damned.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
March 27, 2019
6:38:53 p.m. EasternJEFF GLOR: Former Vice President Joe Biden is trying to clear up some past issues ahead of his expected announcement that he's joining 14 other Democrats in a run for the White House. Last night he brought us his role in a controversial Senate confirmation hearing from 28 years ago. Here's Jan Crawford.
[Cuts to video]
JOE BIDEN: I wish I could have done something.
JAN CRAWFORD: At an award ceremony last night in New York, the former vice president once again offered an apology of sorts to law professor Anita
BIDEN: To this day I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved, given the courage she showed by reaching out to us.
CRAWFORD: Joe Biden, of course, ran those hearings. He was chair of the Democratically-controlled Judiciary Committee in 1991 when Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
BIDEN: What was the most embarrassing of all the incidences that you have alleged?
CRAWFORD: The hearings gripped the nation.
ANITA HILL: On several occasions, Thomas told me, graphically, of his own sexual prowess.
CLARENCE THOMAS: This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace.
CRAWFORD: And it's now a potential problem for Biden, which he seems to recognize, as he considers a presidential run in a field of women and minority Democratic contenders.
BIDEN: A bunch of white guys hearing – hearing this testimony in the Senate Judiciary Committee. She faced a committee that didn't fully understand what the hell it was all about.
CRAWFORD: It's not the first time Biden has expressed regret. In 2017, he was asked about Hill's assertion that the Judiciary Committee treated her unfairly.
BIDEN: I am so sorry if she believed that. I am so sorry that she went through what she went through.
CRAWFORD: Hill told The Washington Post, after that interview, “that's sort of a ‘I'm sorry if you were offended.’” And last year, she told Elle magazine, “it's becoming sort of a running joke in the household when someone rings the doorbell and we're not expecting company. ‘Oh,’ we say, is that Joe Biden coming to apologize?”
[Cuts back to live]
Now, Hill said there are more important things to her than hearing an apology from Joe Biden. And today, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said, his apology tour is sad to see because he thought Biden was an effective senator who is now trying reinvent himself to get the nomination. Jeff.
GLOR: Okay. Jan Crawford, thank you.
