Brett Kavanauh Just Snubbed the Father of a Parkland Shooting Victim
Screencap via Twitter Politics News Brett Kavanaugh
Fred Guttenberg is the father of Jaime Guttenberg, a high school student was murdered during the Parkland High School shootings in February. Since his daughter’s death, Guttenberg has become a gun safety advocate, and today he attempted to introduce himself to Brett Kavanaugh at the Senate confirmation hearings. Per his account, Kavanaugh snubbed him:
Just walked up to Judge Kavanaugh as morning session ended. Put out my hand to introduce myself as Jaime Guttenberg’s dad. He pulled his hand back, turned his back to me and walked away. I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence.
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) September 4, 2018
Guttenberg’s version is backed up by photo evidence from the AP:
Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jamie Guttenberg who was killed in the shooting in Parkland, Fla., left, tries to shake hands with @realDonaldTrump‘s Supreme Court nom., Brett Kavanaugh, right, during a lunch break. Kavanaugh did not shake his hand. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) @appic.twitter.com/smcCGuLT6X
— Andrew Harnik (@andyharnik) September 4, 2018
And a video clip from C-SPAN:
Here’s clip via @cspan. pic.twitter.com/bHvebCY2zc
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) September 4, 2018
The withering look on Kavanaugh’s face says it all. Of course, that didn’t stop White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah from trying to spin it:
As Judge Kavanaugh left for his lunch break, an unidentified individual approached him. Before the Judge was able to shake his hand, security had intervened. https://t.co/ylOhtA1s6G
— Raj Shah (@RajShah45) September 4, 2018
NEW VIDEO of hearing room clearly shows security intervened when Judge #Kavanaugh was approached. pic.twitter.com/ZGRRCcWroW
— Raj Shah (@RajShah45) September 4, 2018
The irony here is that Shah was already in the news this morning following the release of information about Bob Woodward’s new Trump book. After the book was on the way to publication, Woodward and Trump spoke, and Trump made Shah sound like a distant underling who didn’t have true access to the president—and also managed to lay the blame on him for not conveying the message that Woodward had requested an interview with Trump.
His spin is ridiculous, of course, and in this clip you can hear Guttenberg mention his daughter’s death and Parkland, at which point Kavanaugh purposefully leaves:
Wow, here you can hear @fred_guttenberg telling Kavanaugh that his daughter “was murdered in Parkland,” and Kavanaugh whirls and walks away pic.twitter.com/VdkTij2Vdp
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) September 4, 2018
The entire confirmation has been a complete fiasco since the beginning, and this only contributes to the prevailing sense that Trump has nominated a corrupt judge who is being confirmed by a corrupt party in corrupt proceedings.