DPCC Co-Chair Bustos: We Must Get to the Truth on Judge Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on America's Newsroom on FOX News to discuss Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Bustos called for a thorough FBI investigation of Dr. Ford's sexual assault allegations. Bustos has led efforts in the House of Representatives to address sexual harassment. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.
"I think the American public wants a fair process. You know, you are a journalist. I'm a former journalist. The guiding star on this should be getting to the truth. How do we best get to the truth? I happen to think that that involves the FBI investigating this and having people who are trained investigators - that's what they do for a living - getting to the bottom of this.
"Well there hasn't been an FBI investigation on this allegation that came up. Right now, we are dealing with a ‘he said, she said.' You've got many people who are saying to believe the survivor. You have many people on the other side saying this is a credible judge. I don't know how you get to the truth without having a thorough investigation on this. I understand that it's 30 something years old. There are people who the Professor says were at this party. I don't think that there is any problem, in my opinion, to do a thorough investigation and get to the bottom of this.
"I think, again, the truth should be the guiding light. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, whether you believe Brett Kavanaugh, or whether you believe Professor Blasey Ford - how we are going to get to the truth is to have those who are trained investigators getting to the truth.
"Well what I hope whether it's Senator Collins or Senator Grassley or any of the Senators sitting around the table, I hope that they just want to ask……I hope that her goal, and again all the other Senators who are on the Judiciary, that they ask questions where Brett Kavanaugh can answer them, with the time to answer them without being cut off, without being overly politicized. And same thing with Professor Blasey Ford. I think what anybody's calling for is how do we get to the truth? It's very, very difficult when you are talking about something that is alleged to have happened 30 something years ago, where you had alcohol involved. I think some of the questions around why did a 15-year old not go to authorities? Why did she not go to her parents if this happened? You're a woman. I'm a woman. I don't know too many women who have had something like a traumatic sexual experience happen to them, and they are 15 years old, who would have gone to authorities. There was alcohol involved.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm from the heartland where Donald Trump won my Congressional District – but I won by 20 points. So what you're talking about is you had one in five voters go to the polls in November of 2016 who voted for Donald Trump and voted for me. I think the reason for that is people have felt in the past that Democrats haven't shown up in small towns.
"I don't think it's much of a secret. I think you show up and you use your two ears and your one mouth.
"From the perspective of a Democrat, I think we look pretty good because we have moderate Democrats running all over these moderate districts. Again, if you come from a district like mine, if you are too far left, or you are too far right, people don't want that. They want somebody who's going to go to Washington, work across the aisle, no matter what party you come from, get something done. I think the expectation is you work hard, you get results and you fight for people when you have a fight on your hands."