WEBVTT - Surveillance: A Road Map for Today's Kavanaugh Hearing From 1991

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<v Speaker 1>And now at Bloomberg Surveillance worldwide and coast to coast,

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<v Speaker 1>with fourteen out of twelve cable news networks tuned into

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<v Speaker 1>what will occur here at ten am is most important

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<v Speaker 1>issues on Judge Kavanaugh, and we will attempt at Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Surveillance to commit perspective. We do that with Bob Moon

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<v Speaker 1>and Bob it goes really back within your research to

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<v Speaker 1>October fourteenth, when Anita Hill had to pass a lie

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<v Speaker 1>detector test, and I think that picks up your wonderful

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<v Speaker 1>perspective you've put together. Yeah, you know, Tom Shakespeare said,

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<v Speaker 1>what has passed his prologue. So, with the Senate Judiciary

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<v Speaker 1>Committee set to gabble to order it's high drama hearing

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<v Speaker 1>into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee b

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<v Speaker 1>At Kavanaugh, it is informative to look back twenty seven

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<v Speaker 1>years to October. That's when President George H. W. Bush's

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<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas was called back in his

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<v Speaker 1>confirmation process to face the sexual misconduct allegations of Anita Hill,

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<v Speaker 1>his former assistant. The panel's chairman at the time was

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<v Speaker 1>Democrat Jill Biden of Delaware, This is not a referendum

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<v Speaker 1>on whether or not whether or not sexual harassment is

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<v Speaker 1>a grave offense. I said from the beginning, this is

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<v Speaker 1>about whether or not sexual harassment occurred. Now we're gonna

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<v Speaker 1>hear more witnesses are gonna come in and cooborate your

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<v Speaker 1>position in hers. We'll find out whether there's telling the

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<v Speaker 1>truth or not, as best as we are capable of doing,

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<v Speaker 1>just like you, as a judge are when you look

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<v Speaker 1>them in the eye and make a judgment something. I

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<v Speaker 1>think this whole affair is sink. I think it's sick

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<v Speaker 1>to Utah. Republican or In Hatch was one of Thomas's

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<v Speaker 1>defenders in those hearings, just as he's defending Brett Kavanaugh

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<v Speaker 1>as a member of the same Senate panel today. Just

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<v Speaker 1>as the Clarence Thomas hearing was then, today's hearing is

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<v Speaker 1>being called a watershed moment. A record two hundred fifty

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<v Speaker 1>seven women are running for the House and Senate in

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<v Speaker 1>the ten mid term elections. In twenty eight women were

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<v Speaker 1>elected to the House of Representatives and four to the Senate,

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<v Speaker 1>among them Democrat Patty Murray, the state of Washington's first

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<v Speaker 1>female U S. Senator. I am a United States senator

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<v Speaker 1>today because of the way Anita Hill was treated. They

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<v Speaker 1>called Anita Hill a liar. They said she was coached

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<v Speaker 1>by special interest groups. They looked for ways to blame her,

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<v Speaker 1>impugne her, and attack her. They pressed the young professor

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<v Speaker 1>for explicit details of the harassment she said she had

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<v Speaker 1>faced on the job. My working relationship became even more

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<v Speaker 1>strained when Judge Thomas began to use work situations to

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<v Speaker 1>discuss sex. On these occasions, he would call me into

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<v Speaker 1>his office for reports on education issues and projects, or

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<v Speaker 1>he might suggest that, because of the time pressures of

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<v Speaker 1>his schedule, we go to lunch to a government cafeteria.

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<v Speaker 1>After a brief discussion of work, he would turn the

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<v Speaker 1>conversation to a discuss sh a sexual matters. His conversations

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<v Speaker 1>were very vivid. Because I was extremely uncomfortable talking about

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<v Speaker 1>sex with him at all, and particularly in such a

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<v Speaker 1>graphic way. I told him that I did not want

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about these subjects. What happened after Hill's opening

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<v Speaker 1>statement explains why this time Republicans on the Judiciary Committee

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<v Speaker 1>have named an outside council who they can choose to

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<v Speaker 1>have question. Dr Christine Bozzy Ford. Hill was a lone

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<v Speaker 1>woman facing a panel of fourteen skeptical men, among them

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<v Speaker 1>Pennsylvania Republican Arlen spect a mere allegation, Senator, I would

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<v Speaker 1>suggest to you that for me, these are more than

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<v Speaker 1>mere allegations. These are the truth to me. These comments

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<v Speaker 1>are the truth to me. I'm not I'm not questioning

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<v Speaker 1>h your statement when I use the word allegation. I

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<v Speaker 1>know about sexual harassment and discrimination against women, and I

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<v Speaker 1>think I have some sensitivity on it. How reliable is

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<v Speaker 1>your testimony in October of on events that occurred eight

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<v Speaker 1>ten years ago? How sure can you expect this committee

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<v Speaker 1>to be on the accuracy of your statements? And it

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't just Republicans who raised the eyebrows and even the

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<v Speaker 1>ire of many women watching the hearings. She could be

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<v Speaker 1>living in a fantasy world. I don't know. We're just

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<v Speaker 1>trying to get to the bottom of all of these facts.

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<v Speaker 1>Howell Heflin was a Democrat from Alabama and trying to

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<v Speaker 1>determine whether you are telling falsehoods or not. I've got

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<v Speaker 1>to determine what your motivation might be. Are you a

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<v Speaker 1>scorned woman? Do you have a militant attitude relative to

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<v Speaker 1>the area of civil rights. No, I don't have a

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<v Speaker 1>militant attitude. Do you have a model complex? No? I don't.

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<v Speaker 1>Well do you see that coming out of this, that

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<v Speaker 1>you can be a hero in the civil rights movement?

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<v Speaker 1>I do not have that kind of complex. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>like all of the attention that I'm getting. I don't.

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<v Speaker 1>I would not even if I liked the attention. I

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<v Speaker 1>would not lie to get attention. Thomas adamantly insisted the

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<v Speaker 1>accusations were not true. I've never been accused of sex harassment,

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<v Speaker 1>and anybody who knows me knows I am adamantly opposed

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<v Speaker 1>to that, adamant, and yet I sit here accused, and

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<v Speaker 1>I'll never be able to get my name back. I

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<v Speaker 1>know it. The day I get received the phone call

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<v Speaker 1>on Saturday night, last Saturday night, about seven thirty and

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<v Speaker 1>told that this was going to be in the press.

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<v Speaker 1>I had I died the person you knew, whether you

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<v Speaker 1>voted for me or against me. He choked back tears

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<v Speaker 1>as he complained that he, his family, his friends, and

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<v Speaker 1>the country had been irreparably harmed. In my views, that

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<v Speaker 1>that is an injustice. And if by going through this,

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<v Speaker 1>another nominee in the future or another American won't have

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<v Speaker 1>to go through it, then, so be it. In the end,

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<v Speaker 1>Republicans on the panel delivered impassioned defenses of the Supreme

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<v Speaker 1>Court nominee Wyoming's Allan Simpson confronting Hill directly. Maybe maybe

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<v Speaker 1>it seems to me you didn't really intend to kill him,

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<v Speaker 1>but you might have. And that's pretty heavy. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>care if you're a man or a woman. Kind of

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<v Speaker 1>a singular, singular torpedo blow below the waterline and he sinks.

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<v Speaker 1>Within five days, Thomas was confirmed by a narrow centem

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<v Speaker 1>majority of fifty two to forty eight. Today, Washington Democrat

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<v Speaker 1>Patty Murray is warning Republicans against a rush to confirm

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<v Speaker 1>Brett Kavanaugh. Women are watching. We are not going to

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<v Speaker 1>allow that to happen again. If Republicans attack Dr Ford

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<v Speaker 1>and this turns into anything like what we saw back

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<v Speaker 1>in women across the country are going to rise up,

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<v Speaker 1>make their voices heard, and Republicans will pay a very

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<v Speaker 1>huge price. Tom him. A lot of people will be

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<v Speaker 1>watching in just a few minutes. Just extraordinary. And you

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<v Speaker 1>go back to Senator Heflin there, who was before Jeff

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<v Speaker 1>Sessions for Alabama, silver star guy, huge marine track record

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<v Speaker 1>in World War Two. And what I went to Bob,

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<v Speaker 1>within your wonderful history there is Hefflin was born in

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<v Speaker 1>and here we are almost a hundred years ahead of that.

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<v Speaker 1>The Jet narrational shifts here have been cultural and generational

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<v Speaker 1>have been extraordinary. Yeah, and you have to consider that

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<v Speaker 1>this was just twenty seven years ago. That's not all

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<v Speaker 1>that long ago, really, And also is it worth noting

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<v Speaker 1>that the process has now become a political process, not

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<v Speaker 1>a legal or judicial process. I think it all began

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<v Speaker 1>with with that hearing where where it it turned political

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<v Speaker 1>and has become increasingly political with each confirmation. What was

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<v Speaker 1>your insight from digging up all of this audio? I

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<v Speaker 1>mean you go back and folks, for for those of

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<v Speaker 1>us in the Bloomberg newsroom, Uh, Bob Moon sits in

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<v Speaker 1>a coveted cubicle with acres of video and in audio reels.

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<v Speaker 1>What was it like to go through it all? What

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<v Speaker 1>what was your take on going thro overwhelming? Take? Is

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<v Speaker 1>it how much time has changed just in that twenty

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<v Speaker 1>seven years. I mean a lot of this I don't

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<v Speaker 1>think would fly today that that was going on back then,

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<v Speaker 1>and particularly with the Me too movement now, Bob moan,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you so much, just extraordinary. Will be sure to

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<v Speaker 1>get that out on Bloomberg Digital