Barack Obama’s Photographer Trolls Trump and the GOP Over Kavanaugh Confirmation
Pete Souza, a former White House photographer under President Barack Obama, has previously let it be known that he is no fan of current President Donald Trump. He has used social media on numerous occasions to taunt and troll the president any chance that he gets.
Now Souza is at it again, this time taking aim at both Trump and the current GOP for their lackluster approach to nominating and confirming Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, to the highest court in the nation.
In the Instagram post seen below, Souza reminds the GOP of their treatment toward Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on
As you may recall, Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court in the last year of his presidency, and Republicans obstructed his pick in every sense of the word. Souza was sure to remind them of this.
Attention Mr. Grassley, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Corker, Mr. Graham, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. 46 minus 1: this is Mr. Merrick Garland. Remember him. You held his Supreme Court nomination open for 293 days without a single hearing. During those 293 days, no one came forward with a shred of evidence about anything that would disqualify him. You just didn’t schedule a hearing or vote for purely political reasons.
Meanwhile Brett Kavanaugh has serious sexual assault allegation being made against him and Republicans are trying their hardest to rush his confirmation through. Souza went on to write:
There is now a credible rape allegation against your Court nominee. For a lifetime appointment. Whose nomination has been open only for 71 days. And your plan is to rush a vote on his nomination without an FBI investigation into a sexual assault he may have committed? Because 46 minus 1 says about the FBI, “this is not their thing.” The “I” in FBI stands for “investigation.” Even I (and everyone that works at the White House) had two FBI investigations into my background as the White House photographer, though I had never committed a crime. So you don’t want the FBI to investigate someone for the Supreme Court about a credible attempted rape allegation? Please explain.
There really is no reason to rush the confirmation hearing though. There will be a vote no matter what, so it’s a bit mystifying why Republicans refuse to investigate the matter fully, unless they believe that the allegations may actually be true.
Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, doesn’t appear to have a motive to lie about her allegations. She could face up to 5 years in prison if convicted of lying to the FBI, so there is little reason to believe that the mother of two would risk her freedom over a political cause.
The GOP, on the other hand, could initiate an investigation simply by asking the president to do so. President Trump could set an investigation in motion in a matter of minutes if he so desired. If that investigation was to confirm that Kavanaugh did not assault Ford, it would all but solidify his confirmation to the Supreme Court, while also hurting the Democrats in the upcoming midterms. Yet, the GOP seemingly is afraid to do so for one reason or another.