MSNBC Host Rachel Maddow had Hillary Clinton on her show Tuesday to discuss Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, and asked if she believed Kavanaugh deserved due process, bringing up allegations against Bill Clinton as a comparison.
"If he is absolutely innocent of this charge, if this didn't happen the way Professor Blasey Ford says it did, and that is what Judge Kavanaugh asserts, do you think that the Senate is capable of giving him due process? I've seen allegations like this -- there are lots of allegories for this and lots of times in politics," Maddow said. "Your husband when he was president faced allegations that were not the same as this, certainly, but had connections to these kinds of old allegations from years ago. And I know you had concerns at the time. Your husband certainly had concerns at the time that he never really had due process to defend himself from allegations like this. Have we learned anything over the years about due process not just for the accusers but also for the accused?"
Clinton focused instead on the case at hand.
"Well, I think that you have to take each of these situations sort of on their own merits, and what we have today is a process that has been rushed, that has been deliberately opaque where information that the Congress, not just Democratic senators, but all senators and the public deserve to see that they were denied," she responded.
"So there has to be a set of standards. And, yes, there should be due process for everyone involved. And I think that's what Dr. Ford is asking for. She is asking for due process. She's asking that there be an investigation. You know, at the end of the investigation, she might very well decide not to pursue her willingness to testify. She might say, well, you know, there's no way to ever prove it. Who knows what she might decide.
"On the other hand, the person she's accusing might decide well, wait a minute, my memory is faulty, or I don't remember that, and now there is evidence for it. We don't know because there has been no decision to give due process on either side. And that's why I think the White House should ask that the FBI reopen the background check."
Clinton’s appearance came shortly after Ford’s attorney said her client would not testify Monday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling instead for an FBI investigation first.
In a letter to Chairman Chuck Grassley, the attorneys claim he was trying to make their client sit at the same table as Kavanaugh.
"While Dr. Ford's life was being turned upside down, you and your staff scheduled a public hearing for her to testify at the same table as Judge Kavanaugh in front of two dozen U.S. senators on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident," attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks write.
Grassley denied those allegations in a response and said the “committee had no plans to place Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh on a panel together.”
Chairman @ChuckGrassley statement on tonight's letter from Dr. Blasey Ford's attorney to the committee. pic.twitter.com/5PkM5tN9Xh
— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) September 19, 2018
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