Feinstein's opponent seizes on her role in Kavanaugh fight

News

Feinstein's opponent seizes on her role in Kavanaugh fight

2018-09-19 05:51 Last Updated At：06:00

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Kevin de Leon, a Democrat in the California Senate, rarely have much in common. But they're united in their condemnation this week of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein is playing a central role in the battle over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. She received a confidential letter earlier this summer from a constituent who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party more than three decades ago, allegations that didn't begin to surface publicly until last week. Feinstein has argued she sought to honor the confidentiality of the letter, whose author, Christine Blasey Ford, came forward this weekend in an interview with The Washington Post.

McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, slammed Feinstein for keeping the letter "secret until the 11th hour." De Leon, who is challenging Feinstein in the Nov. 6 election, said her actions amounted to a "failure of leadership." Feinstein defended her actions in a Tuesday interview and Ford's lawyer has said she acted appropriately.

The accusation, which Kavanaugh has denied, is consuming Washington, where the nomination's fate is suddenly in limbo. It's also giving de Leon an opening to criticize Feinstein in his uphill election fight.

"That was a valuable piece of info that you could have kept the confidentiality and kept her privacy and still dealt with the issue at hand," he said in a Monday interview.

He said he would've shared the letter with fellow Democrats on the Judiciary Committee while redacting identifying information and that Feinstein should have asked Kavanaugh about his character during hearings.

Feinstein, who has been backed by several fellow Senate Democrats, said Tuesday she was honoring Ford's request to keep the information confidential.

"I did not know whether this woman would come forward or not, I did not know if it was credible," she told reporters. "We were looking for a way to get it investigated by an outside investigator and what we found is we had to go through (the rules committee) and we were discussing the pros and cons of doing that, so it hasn't been easy."

Feinstein faces a fellow Democrat in November because of California's unique primary system that sends the two highest vote getters to the general election regardless of party. As one of California's best known politicians and one with deep pockets, Feinstein has kept de Leon's challenge at bay even as he's sought to paint her as too deferential to President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he released an online advertisement linking Feinstein's language about undocumented immigrants in the 1990s to Trump's rhetoric today.

But his criticism on the Kavanaugh issue, made in statements, interviews and even a fundraising appeal, doesn't come without risk.

He led the state Senate last fall when accusations of widespread misconduct rocked the Capitol. De Leon's former housemate was forced to resign after allegations he made advances on multiple women, including inviting a young woman in a fellowship program back to the house the two shared in Sacramento. De Leon denied knowledge of it and moved out after the news broke. He also hired outside investigators to look into complaints and introduced a resolution to expel Sen. Tony Mendoza, who eventually resigned.

A bill to give whistleblower protections to state legislative employees died repeatedly in the Senate, only passing this year, spurred by the #MeToo movement. That bill's sponsor, Republican Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, took to Twitter to criticize de Leon, and women who led the Capitol's #MeToo movement chimed in.

"As one of the CA Capitol women who helped elevate the issue I can attest to Kevin's lack of action," tweeted Alicia Lewis, a Sacramento lobbyist. Lewis said she voted for de Leon in the California primary but will now back Feinstein in November.

De Leon said the whistleblower bill didn't explicitly reference sexual harassment victims until this year, when it passed the Senate, and he called comparisons between his and Feinstein's actions "apples to oranges." He noted the California Legislature's complete overhaul of its procedures for handling sexual misconduct this year following the #MeToo movement.

Elected to the Senate in 1992, Feinstein was one of the first women to sit on the Judiciary Committee. She joined the panel as its previously all-male membership was grappling with stinging criticism of its handling of Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

Over the years, Feinstein has developed a reputation for her preference of decorum and discretion. But that approach clashes with the more aggressive style that a new generation of liberal lawmakers such as de Leon is promoting.

Upending decorum has never been Feinstein's style, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a public policy professor at the University of Southern California.

"It seems to me this is in line with the way Dianne Feinstein has always behaved, very carefully, very circumspectly," Jeffe said.

Associated Press writer Juliet Linderman in Washington contributed to this report

Storms battering the Midwest bring tornadoes, hail and strong winds

2024-05-08 13:32 Last Updated At：13:52

DETROIT (AP) — Severe storms continued to barrel through the Midwest early Wednesday, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes that forecasters warned could spill out of the region.

The tornadoes were first spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.

As the storms raged on in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh warned that a tornado in northeastern Ohio could cross into Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were also under a tornado warning.

Hours earlier in southwestern Michigan, two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo on Tuesday night, destroying homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility that was ripped apart.

There were no serious injuries immediately reported, but city officials said in a news release that the twisters knocked out power to more than 20,000 people. Most of them would be without power until late Wednesday, city officials said.

At one point, about 50 people were trapped inside the FedEx facility because of downed power lines. But company spokesperson Shannon Davis said late Tuesday that “all team members are safe and accounted for.”

Tuesday's storms came a day after parts of the central United States were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

On Monday night, a deadly twister in Oklahoma tore through the small 1,000-person town of Barnsdall. At least one person was killed and another was missing. Dozens of homes were destroyed.

Aerial videos showed homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off. The twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 160-acre (65-hectare) wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage.

It was the second tornado to hit Barnsdall in five weeks — a twister on April 1 with maximum wind speeds of 90 to 100 mph (145 to 161 kph) damaged homes and blew down trees and power poles.

Before Monday night's powerful tornado touched down, the National Weather Service had warned that “a large and life-threatening tornado” north of Tulsa was headed toward Barnsdall and the nearby town of Bartlesville.

At the Hampton Inn in Bartlesville, several splintered 2x4s were driven into the south side of the building. Chunks of insulation, twisted metal and other debris were scattered over the hotel’s lawn, and vehicles in the parking lot were heavily damaged with blown-out windows.

Hotel guest Matthew Macedo said he was ushered into a laundry room to wait out the storm.

“When the impact occurred, it was incredibly sudden,” he said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who toured the twister's damage on Tuesday, said it was rated by weather researchers as a violent tornado with winds reaching up to 200 mph (322 kph). Stitt said he and legislative leaders have agreed to set aside $45 million in this year’s budget to help storm-damaged communities.

“Oklahomans are resilient,” Stitt said, “and we’re going to rebuild.”

Areas in Oklahoma, including Sulphur and Holdenville, are still recovering from a tornado that killed four and left thousands without power late last month.

The powerful storms come amid a wild swing in severe weather across the globe that includes some of the worst-ever flooding in Brazil and a brutal Asian heat wave.

Across the U.S., the entire week is looking stormy. The eastern U.S. and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati — cities where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend.

Murphy reported from Oklahoma City. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Rio Yamat, Heather Hollingsworth, Colleen Slevin, Jim Salter, Kathy McCormack, Sarah Brumfield and Beatrice Dupuy.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.