As The Federalist has continued to expose, corporate America has a double standard for its PAC donations based on arbitrary and partisan distinctions.
Since virtue-signaling multinational corporations claim to be so intent on rescinding campaign contribution dollars to the GOP to retaliate against members of Congress who did not vote to certify the 2020 presidential election, this presents a reciprocal question. Where were the suits when Democrats ignored due process in the 2018 Justice Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings?
The partiality was insane in 2018. Democrat members of Congress ignored any semblance of constitutional processes and expressed that Kavanaugh was a rapist before any evidence could be examined. The “Me Too” movement worked its way up to the highest levels of government and the left decided upon the justice’s guilt even prior to the hearings. Christine Blasey Ford’s unsubstantiated and debunked accusations became their rallying cry.
Rachel Mitchell, a veteran sex-crimes prosecutor hired by the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Ford’s allegations, said in her assessment that not a single “reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence.” Regardless, the left presumed Kavanaugh was guilty because they wanted him to be. They tried to “Bork” him.
Here are some prominent Democrats who threw out due process in 2018, in favor of Title IX-like ambiguity that permeates college campuses. Are corporations comfortable funding them? If so, why?
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was disturbingly eager to wield politics before, and during, the Kavanaugh hearings. In Sept. 2018, before hearing a shred of evidence presented, Gillibrand gave a press conference perfectly suitable for a season-finale episode of “Veep” or “Homeland.”
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: "I believe" Kavanaugh's accuser.
Less than 10 seconds later she slams Senate Judiciary Committee members for making up their minds "without an FBI investigation." pic.twitter.com/hPD6SlRYnp
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 20, 2018
“I believe Dr. Blasey Ford,” she said, “because she’s telling the truth.”
As Seth Barron justifiably wrote in City Journal at the time, “this tautological statement was underwhelming to anyone looking for facts, but entirely compelling to the senator’s intended audience of fellow ‘believers.'”
Barron’s point is the important one. Gillibrand and her Democratic colleagues were working in the world of “belief,” not the truth. It became a sort of religion for them.
Once in court, Gillibrand could not be stopped in her laughable ignorance of how the American legislature works.
Gillibrand said that Ford’s allegations are the “hallmarks of truth . . . the hallmarks of someone who wants to be believed because she fears that if this person is confirmed he will do terrible things for American women. . . . I believe her because she is telling the truth,” she continued. “Someone who is lying does not ask the FBI to investigate their claims. Who is not asking the FBI to investigate these claims? The White House. Judge Kavanaugh has not asked to have the FBI review these claims. Is that the reaction of an innocent person? It is not.”
In other words, the senator’s twisted view of jurisprudence comes to this; silence equates to guilt, and you are guilty until proven innocent. Did this senator pass eighth-grade civics?
Throughout her career, Pfizer Inc has given $35,498 to Gillibrand—the most by any PAC. Yet Pfizer announced in January that it is suspending all donations to the 147 Republican congressmen who opposed the election certification.
Is Gillibrand someone corporate PACs also want to fund? Someone who tries to “undermine the law,” as Deloitte LLP characterized in their rationale for pulling out from GOP donations?
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii
In a press conference prior to Ford even testifying, Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed that all men in this country need to “shut up and step up.”
“Not only do women like Dr. Ford, who bravely comes forward, need to be heard, but they need to be believed. They need to be believed,” Hirono also said. “We cannot continue the victimization and the smearing of someone like Dr. Ford. We have to create an environment where women can come forward and be heard and be listened to. I want to thank Dr. Ford. I commend her courage. I believe her.”
As in the case of Gillibrand, Hirono was operating in a suspended state of “belief” rather than taking the time to investigate the facts of the matter, which is her duty as an elected official.
“Judge Brett Kavanaugh has not earned the benefit of the doubt. He has the burden of proof to demonstrate his ability to be independent of @realDonaldTrump and exercise unbiased and independent judgment. #WhatsAtStake (thread),” Hirono tweeted in July 2018.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh has not earned the benefit of the doubt. He has the burden of proof to demonstrate his ability to be independent of @realDonaldTrump and exercise unbiased and independent judgment. #WhatsAtStake (thread)
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) July 10, 2018
This same narrative was continually reinforced by the Hawaii senator, such as saying Kavanaugh “has not earned the benefit of the doubt” to be considered a viable nominee.
This is the senator who asked Justice Amy Comey Barrett at her confirmation hearing in Oct. 2020 if she has a history of sexual assault or has ever made “unwanted requests for sexual favors.”
Throughout Hirono’s career, she has received $45,000 from the American Association of Justice; an association for trial lawyers. Is the American Assn. of Justice going to continue setting the precedent of donating to senators who do not believe in the Due Process Clause that is derived from the British Magna Carta?
Vice President Kamala Harris
While then California Sen. Kamala Harris called for due process in the wake of the revelations of Rep. Katie Hill’s, D-Calif., text messages to a campaign staffer in Oct. 2019, she was swift to abandon this sentiment a year prior for the Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.
“I think there’s no question that [Hill] should be given due process, and that she should be respected in this process,” Harris told BuzzFeed. “It just sends a signal to other women that’s discouraging them from running for office.”
Hill resigned over having inappropriate sexual relations with a staffer, while Kavanaugh was character-assassinated by a bunch of Democrats who colluded because of their disdain for the fact that President Trump had the power to nominate him. They could not win the game, so they tried to rig it.
Prior to Ford or Kavanaugh testifying, Harris told CBS, “I believe her.”
“Listen, first of all, anybody who comes forward at this point to be prepared to testify in the United States Senate against someone who’s being nominated to one of the most powerful positions in the United States government, that takes an extraordinary amount of courage,” Harris said.
Harris also said Ford has “nothing to gain,” rendering her allegations a “serious matter.”
In the confirmation hearings, Harris grilled Kavanaugh and cut him off incessantly. She came in with an agenda and let it be known.
"I'm going to take that as a 'no' and we can move on"
Sen. Kamala Harris asks for a 'yes or no' answer to whether Judge Kavanaugh would ask the White House to authorize an FBI investigation https://t.co/GyNq7i8LHZ pic.twitter.com/rx5MAHAj8S
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 28, 2018
“You are not on trial,” Harris told Ford, “you are sitting here before the United States Senate’s Judiciary Committee because you had the courage to come forward. Because as you have said, you believe it was your civic duty.”
Full steam ahead on 2020 – Kamala Harris announced she will run today. She denied Brett Kavanaugh due process in front of the nation, and in so doing has lost my vote. I could not imagine any American for somebody who does not believe in due process. pic.twitter.com/9NzPikOzM7
— Bill O'Reilly (@BillOReilly) January 21, 2019
Even after the FBI concluded a comprehensive investigation into the allegations by Ford, Harris refused to hold facts more accountable than the belief she concocted in her head.
“I sat through those hearings. Brett Kavanaugh lied to the U.S. Senate and most importantly to the American people. He was put on the Court through a sham process and his place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice,” she said.
I sat through those hearings. Brett Kavanaugh lied to the U.S. Senate and most importantly to the American people. He was put on the Court through a sham process and his place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice.
He must be impeached.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 15, 2019
From 2016 to 2020, Harris received $10,000 from Google parent Alphabet Inc. She received $1,000 from AT&T and $152,933 from affiliated individuals.
Alphabet has suspended all donations. The company and its employees together gave $10,199,321 to Democrats in the 2020 cycle.
AT&T released a statement saying it has “decided to suspend contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes last week.” In 2020, the company and its employees donated $3,943,269 to the Democratic Party.
Are AT&T and Alphabet, as well as its employees, comfortable donating to lawmakers who do not value the U.S. court system?
Both AT&T and Alphabet did not immediately respond to a media request by The Federalist.
