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Sen. Hirono Won’t Say Whether Harassing Senators In Restaurants Is ‘Going Too Far’

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono on Sunday refused twice to answer whether she thought harassing Republican senators in restaurants was taking things a bit too far.

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Hirono responded to the question posed by guest host Dana Bash.

WATCH:

Bash began the segment by drawing a clear line between peaceful protest and what amounts to harassment.

“The president, Republicans are saying Democratic protesters are, quote, ‘an angry mob,'” she explained. “What I want to ask you about, it is one thing to protest the Supreme Court at the capitol. That’s been done for generations and frankly since the founding of this country. It’s another thing to run senators out of restaurants and go to their homes. Is that going too far?”

Hirono dodged the question, instead going back to the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

“I think it just means that there are a lot of people who are very, very much motivated about what is going on,” she said. “What happened with Judge Kavanaugh from the very beginning, this is not a fair process. What the Republicans did was to telegraph after Dr. Ford’s account came forward, what they telegraph was, one, Dr. Ford, we don’t want to hear from you. Two, if we have to hear from you, we will rig the hearing.”

Bash tried again, asking directly, “Should they be going after people at restaurants?”

That’s when Hirono turned the topic to white supremacists, again ignoring the question.

“You look at white supremacists and all that, this is what’s coming forth in our country, a tremendous divisiveness in our country,” she said. “This is the kind of activism that occurs and people make their own decisions. If they violate the law, then they have to account for that.”

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