The usually mild-mannered Chuck Grassley on Thursday exploded at the assembled reporters, ripping them for “bias” in covering Brett Kavanaugh. The Republican senator screamed as GOP members discussed the impending vote on the Judge. Grassley insisted that the country needs to heal after hitting “hit rock bottom” with the divisive hearings. He then looked directly at reporters, yelling, “And you folks can have something to do with this!”
Grassley berated the journalists: “Now, I would never use the word fake news. I consider you folks policemen for our democratic system of government. But I want to show you where some of you have bias!”
The Senator proceeded to tell a story of how journalists have only shown interest in covering the protesters at his office who OPPOSE Kavanaugh. Not the protesters who are demanding he be confirmed.
I've had demonstrators in my office for two weeks now, both for and against Kavanaugh. And one time the people for Kavanaugh wanted to be interviewed. And they said we only — we are only interested in interviewing people against Kavanaugh.... That is a bias that none of you should be part of!
This isn’t the first time the usually calm Grassley has raged against media bias. On September 4, he knocked the press for hypocrisy when it comes to Kavanaugh: “So I think it’s pretty clear a double standard and we shouldn’t have to tolerate such double standard.”
A partial transcript is below. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC Live
10/4/18
2:54UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On a slightly different note, one thing that was noticeable at the committee hearings was when Dr. Blasey Ford said that it was not clear that the committee would go to California to interview her, I'm just curious, Chairman Grassley, you've already referred some charges to the DOJ regarding uncorroborated allegations. I'm wondering will the committee take any action against the attorneys for blasey Ford.
CHUCK GRASSLEY: We don’t prosecute —
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Or would you refer them —
GRASSLEY: Right now I don't know and I don't know that there is any reason to. I think that — what I'd like to do when we get all done, because this is almost rock bottom, I would like to have the future mending things so we can do things in a collegial way that the United States Senate ought to do and particularly when it comes to the Supreme Court nominations.
And you folks can have something to do with this! Now, I would never use the word fake news. I consider you folks policemen for our democratic system of government. But I want to show you where some of you have bias. I've had demonstrators in my office for two weeks now, both for and against Kavanaugh. And one time the people for Kavanaugh wanted to be interviewed. And they said we only — we are only interested in interviewing people against Kavanaugh. Now, is that — that is a bias that none of you should be part of.
Dr. Ford's legal team has sent a letter to the FBI characterizing this investigation as a stain on the process of the FBI and on our American ideal of justice. What is your response to that?
GRASSLEY: I'll give you — let the FBI do what the FBI is hired do and keep political interference out of it. And my making a call to the FBI that you ought do something is political interference, I made no call to the FBI since this whole process started a week ago. And I'm not going to. I never had any conversation with anybody in the White House. Because I got confidence in the FBI. They go where the facts lead them.
