News & Politics

Listen to “Dems Trash Men in Effort to Sink Kavanaugh” on Spreaker.

From insisting female accusers must always be believed to telling men in general to “shut up,” Senate Democrats are needlessly dividing the nation while also demonstrating they really don’t believe the woman claiming Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, according to American Women’s Alliance President Gayle Trotter.

After days of silence on the allegation lodged by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980’s, Senate Democrats are pushing the twin messages that this accusation must be thoroughly investigated by the FBI but also that they believe Ford is telling the truth.

ABC News Chief Political Analyst Matthew Dowd, who worked on the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush, even tweeted out that the woman should always be believed in these situations.

“Enough with the he said, she said’ story line,” tweeted Dowd this week.  “If this is he said, she said, then let’s believe the she in these scenarios. She has nothing to gain, and everything to lose. For 250 years we have believed the he in these scenarios. Enough is enough.”

Trotter says that is not how our system works.

“These Democrats and many in the media are equating ‘she must be taken seriously,’ which everyone agrees with ‘he’s presumed guilty until proven innocent.’  I think it’s really dangerous and sad that wee turned one of the very foundations of American law on it’s head,” said Trotter.

Trotter is also a practicing attorney and says while Democrats keep labeling Ford’s allegation as “credible,” there is a legal expectation for credibility that is lacking thus far in this case.

“Usually credibility means that it’s verified.  It’s corroborated.  There are similar attestations around the same time that the allegation was said to occur, that there are pertinent details that can be offered,” said Trotter.

Trotter says the timing of this allegation, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein possessed the letter for more than a month, reveals two things about the Democrats on this issue.  First, the failure of Feinstein to inform anyone else on the committee proves there’s little interest in the truth as opposed to the political benefit.

Moreover, Trotter says it’s pretty clear the Democrats themselves are dubious about the allegation.  She says members of the Judiciary Committee had two background calls with Kavanaugh, along with a closed session detailing his background check, 32 hours of public testimony, and 1,300 written questions.  Not once in that process did anyone bring up the allegation.

Meanwhile, Trotter says dozens women who have known Kavanaugh from high school to college and law school to his career at the White House and on the bench vouch for his character.

But Democrats are taking the issue beyond Kavanaugh and Ford.  On Tuesday, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono told American men to “shut up and step up.”

“Guess who’s perpetuating (sic) all these kinds of actions?  It’s the men in this country and I just want to say to the men in this country, just shut up and step up.  Do the right thing for a change,” said Hirono, who also admitted in another interview that Democrats would be fine keeping the court seat vacant until 2021.

Trotter is appalled.

“I can’t believe she would say something so outrageous and offensive to American men.  Does she forget that American men and women built this country and they absolutely have a first amendment right to speak their minds and their opinions.

“To try to shame them into being quiet on something as consequential as the next Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process is truly just outrageous,” said Trotter.

She says the intentional division based on sex is very damaging to our society.

“We know as women that men are our fathers, our brothers, our co-workers, our neighbors.  They are an important part of building our American society and helping to ensure equal opportunity for all Americans.  They are shoulder-to-shoulder with the American women,” said Trotter.

She says the the effort to divide men and women politically is nothing new, pointing to the Democrats alleging during the 2012 campaign that the GOP wanted to wage a war on women.

“Perhaps that is part of the strategy of all of this going into the midterm elections.” she said.

Trotter suspects the move could backfire this time, because while Americans may be polarized, they also have an innate sense of fairness, especially on something like the Kavanaugh-Ford controversy.

“I think Americans can see that while they want both parties to be heard in this set of allegations, they understand that the fundamental right of an accused and the fundamental right of a person to not have their character smeared or their reputation destroyed because of politics is a bridge too far,” said Trotter.

Listen to “McCarthy Talks Kavanaugh Accusation, Manafort Plea” on Spreaker.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy is blasting Senate Democrats for launching a last-minute sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and noting that such tactics by the left and uncertainty by Republicans in how to respond is a major factor in why Republican voters went with Donald Trump two years ago.

He’s also weighing in on the significance of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleading guilty to felony charges and agreeing to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Kavanaugh seemed to be on a smooth path to confirmation until the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein released a vague letter about an allegation against Kavanaugh.

In recent days, we know that Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of forcing himself upon her at a 1982 party when both were teenagers.  Kavanaugh categorically denies any wrongdoing with respect to Ford or anyone else.

McCarthy says Feinstein’s approach stinks.

“I think it’s really a disgrace that this came out the way that it did.  Sen. Feinstein knew about this in July, sat down and had face-to-face interviews with this guy.  She questioned him at a public hearing, questioned him at a private hearing.  They never mentioned a word of it.

“They spring this at the last minute, at the moment the guy is about to get a committee vote,” said McCarthy.

Kavanaugh seemed on track to secure all Republican votes in the Senate, but now at least four of them are demanding more hearings to get more information from Ford and Kavanaugh.

Some GOP politicos are suggesting Trump drop the Kavanaugh nomination since he’d be tarnished for decades even if none of this is true.  McCarthy says that instinct is exactly why Trump got elected.

“He urges that you fight the way the Democrats fight.  You fight aggressively the way the Democrats fight.  You break the rules if you have to, the way the Democrats do.  I hate that that’s the way our politics are, but it sure looks to me that that’s exactly the way they are,” said McCarthy.

Listen here to hear all of McCarthy’s comments on the Kavanaugh controversy, and why he does not think Manafort’s plea deal is as significant as some partisans hope or fear it will be.

Listen to “‘They Will Use Any Excuse They Can to Delay This Nomination'” on Spreaker.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary injected a new twist to the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle by publicizing an anonymous accusation that Kavanaugh engaged in misconduct, which is now described as an attempted sexual assault when Kavanaugh was in high school.

However, a prominent defender of Judge Kavanaugh says the timing and vagueness of the allegation all smell of political opportunism by Democrats.

In a piece for the New Yorker, Ronan Farrow writes that the unnamed accuser alleges that a teenage Kavanaugh tried to force himself on a female high school student and at least temporarily tried to prevent her from leaving a room at a party where he had been drinking.

In a statement, Kavanaugh said, “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”

No Senate Democrats are speaking publicly on the matter, other than Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s statement referring the matter to the FBI.  Feinstein reportedly knew of the allegation since July.

Judicial Confirmation Network Chief Counsel Carrie Severino says Feinstein had ample opportunity to address the issue in public or in private with Kavanaugh in recent weeks, so the timing of this revelation seems awfully suspicious to her.

“If Sen. Feinstein truly thought that this was a credible claim that needed to be looked into, you’d expect her to talk about it during her personal interview with him or during the hearings,” said Severino, who notes that Kavanaugh responded to more than 1,200 questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee.  That’s more than any other Supreme Court nominee.

“The story is still very murky about what went on.  I think what’s clear here is that politically we know exactly where it’s coming from.  (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer said, ‘I’m going to do everything I can in my power to stop this nomination.  This is really just making good on that promise,” said Severino.

After a week of confirmation hearings that included consistent disruptions by protesters and various allegations by Democrats on the committee, Severino says this is just one more bit of ugliness in a very undignified performance from liberals.

“It’s just another one of those ugly moments that we’ve seen from protesters to threats against Sen. (Susan) Collins’ staff, bribery efforts that may be campaign finance violations,” said Severino.

Without a named accuser and without many specifics in the allegation, Severino says it’s hard to know what, if anything, actually happened 36 years ago.  But she says the fact that 65 women who went to school with Kavanaugh immediately vouched for his character then and now and that the FBI sees no reason to investigate the claim lends credibility to Kavanaugh’s denial.

Severino says the bottom line is that Democrats are desperate for any reason to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

“I’m surprised they haven’t said, ‘There’s a hurricane going on.  We can’t have a vote until the end of hurricane season.’  They will use any excuse they can to delay this nomination.  It’s really a last ditch effort because they hope against hope that maybe in the process of delaying it they can win the Senate or find something else to distract people.

“It’s simply not going to work.  They have to face up to the facts that they don’t have the votes,” said Severino.

Listen to “Bernard Kerik's Gripping 9/11 Memories” on Spreaker.

On Tuesday, Americans paused to remember the horrors and heroism seen on September 11, 2001, and now the man who led the NYPD through that harrowing day and the days that followed is sharing his vivid memories of that day.

Bernard Kerik served as NYPD commissioner from August 2000 until the end of 2001.  He is now the author of the fictional thrilled, “The Grave Above the Grave,” which is about a New York City Police Commissioner dealing with a future terrorist attack.

Seventeen years ago on 9/11, Kerik has just completed a workout when his chief of staff told him a plane had hit one of the World Trade center towers.  Early speculation was that a small private plane had gone off course, but Kerik knew that wasn’t right as he looked out the window at the burning skyscraper just a quarter mile away.

Kerik immediate called Mayor Rudy Giuliani and they planned to meet at 7 World Trade Center.  Kerik arrived first and personally witness the desperation of the people trapped in the tower.  When his driver attempted to turn onto Vesey Street, an officer stopped them to explain why they couldn’t continue.

“A police sergeant came up to my vehicle and said, ‘Look, you can’t turn into the block.  They’re jumping.’  Immediately, I didn’t grasp what he was talking about.  I stepped out of the vehicle and for the next several minutes I watched people jump from the top of Tower 1.  They were landing on Vesey and they were landing in the courtyard between the two buildings,” said Kerik.

Giuliani arrived about five minutes later, but just before he arrived, the second plane hit the south tower.  Kerik immediately knew that meant the city was under attack.  Not knowing how many more planes may be coming, he ordered officers to evacuate high profile targets like city hall, the Empire State Building and the United Nations.

“We basically shut down the city and I think that was the first time in the city’s history that it was actually closed,” said Kerik.

The towers were attacked just 17 minutes apart.  For the next hour, first responders raced through the building to get people out.  He considers that the greates rescue operation in American history.

“They took 20,000-25,000 people out of those buildings and the immediate surrounding area.  But they also evacuated more than a million people out of Manhattan and into the four other boroughs and into New Jersey,” said Kerik.

Kerik and Giuliani were in 7 World Trade Center when Giuliani learned from the White House that a plane had struck the Pentagon.  At that same moment, the south tower imploded.

“It felt like a freight train was coming through the side of it.  The door slammed open and my chief of department, Joe Esposito, came in and yelled, ‘Everybody get down.  The building’s coming down’  That was Tower 2.  It imploded just about on top of us,” said Kerik.

What Kerik saw police and firefighters do next exceeds the definition of bravery.  He says every officer who didn’t die in the Tower 2 collapse rushed into Tower 1 to save as many lives as possible.  Tower 1 imploded less than 30 minutes later, taking more lives of New York City’s finest.

Kerik is now active in two ways in the wake of 9/11.  First, he is pleading with Congress to fund efforts to support more than 10,000 Ground Zero personnel who contracted life-threatening illnesses from the toxic air on site.

He is also urging political leaders and the public to stay vigilant.  He says terrorists flying planes into buildings is unlikely to happen again, but the threat of five or six groups of terrorists targeting an elementary school or some other soft target would “put this country into a manic depression.”

“The threat is still here,” said Kerik.  “The threat is something we have to deal with.

Listen to the full interview with Bernard Kerik to hear more of his first-person account of 9/11 and the fight that still continues.