On Saturday Morning's The Cross Connection on MSNBC, during a segment about the upcoming confirmation hearings for Biden Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, justice correspondent for The Nation, Elie Mystal claimed Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is trying to get Jackson killed by bringing up her record of being soft on child porn offenders.
Host Tiffany Cross was the first to broach the subject about Hawley's concerns over Jackson's record:
He's going to focus on her pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their crimes both as a judge and a policymaker. I mean, this is a guy who serves in the same party as Jim Jordan so it’s quite rich to hear some of the things that they’re suggesting and Matt Gaetz. I mean should we start this list of things? It's kind of ridiculous.
She then proceeded to claim that "Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have nothing, so their tactic is going to be erasure" and that the GOP has "no plan to attack her record" despite just reporting on their plans to "attack her record."
Mystal responded that he thinks Republicans should just roll over and don't challenge her "the simplest thing for Republicans would be to kinda have a normal, kinda above board hearing, let her be confirmed." Because "she doesn't change the balance of power of the court anyway."
He then suggested that Republican complaints about high gas prices or the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop are frivolous: "go back to crying about gas prices or talking about Hunter Biden's laptop or whatever other thing counts as a Republican platform these days."
Mystal then focused in on Hawley daring to bring up Jackson's judicial record on letting child porn offenders off easy:
Because what Josh Hawley is doing. Let’s be very clear. What Josh Hawley is doing when he tries to do this is he's trying to get her killed. He is trying to get violence done against a Supreme Court nominee. And we know this because when these people go off making their ridiculous claims about child pornography, we know that some of their people show up violently to do stuff, as happened to the New Hampshire pizza parlor.
If attempting to hold a Supreme Court nominee accountable for her record on the bench is "trying to get her killed" then what would you call falsely accusing then-nominee Bret Kavanaugh of being a gang rapist?
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The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The Cross Connection
3/19/2022
10:29:36 a.m. EasternTIFFANY CROSS: You know, you brought up Josh Hawley, who according to Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee, I mean he's going to focus on her pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their crimes both as a judge and a policymaker. I mean, this is a guy who serves in the same party as Jim Jordan so it’s quite rich to hear some of the things that they’re suggesting and Matt Gaetz. I mean should we start this list of things? It's kind of ridiculous. But something interesting Elie before you answer I just want to say because Politico is reporting that basically, these guys have nothing. The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have nothing, so their tactic is going to be erasure. I’m just curious, what your thoughts are about that because the point is they really don’t have any thoughts. They have no plan to attack her record.
ELIE MYSTAL: The simplest thing for Republicans would be to kinda have a normal, kinda above board hearing, let her be confirmed. She doesn't change the balance of power of the court anyway. And go back to talking about the things that worked for them. Go back to crying about gas prices or talking about Hunter Biden's laptop or whatever other thing counts as a Republican platform these days. Because she is going to be confirmed. And she is going to be well-liked while she’s confirmed, and she’s not going to change the balance of power so them going to the mattresses against her is kind of a waste of their time. But I don't want to let the Josh Hawley thing lie. Because here's where I need the Democrats to step up. Because when they try to smear her, I need the Democrats to get up there and defend her just as vociferously as Lindsey Graham defended alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh. Like I need that level of energy from the Democrats, especially when they come at her with this trumped-up alleged issues about her sentencing for sex offenders.
Because what Josh Hawley is doing. Let’s be very clear. What Josh Hawley is doing when he tries to do this is he's trying to get her killed. He is trying to get violence done against a Supreme Court nominee. And we know this because when these people go off making their ridiculous claims about child pornography, we know that some of their people show up violently to do stuff, as happened to the New Hampshire pizza parlor. And you know how I know that Josh Hawley knows what pizza gate is all about? Because guess who's the judge who sentenced the pizza gate guy? That was Ketanji Brown Jackson. She sentenced the pizza gate guy to four years in prison. His lawyer had asked for 18 months. The prosecutors actually asked for 4 1/2 years, so she was lenient, she was merciful to the pizza gate guy. But they're mad at her for that. And so like that's where this stuff is coming from. You need to know where it's coming from and Democrats need to know how to defend her from this stuff. Instead of leaving her out there on her own.
