WH Spox Tells Reporters ‘Trump-Nominated Judges’ Sentenced Below Child Porn Guidelines to Defend Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates rebutted Republican questioning of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson with facts about judges who were nominated by former President Donald Trump — and who were supported by Republicans.
Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearings were punctuated by a string of Republican senators attacking the nominee to the point of badgering. Among the attacks from Senators like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton were debunked insinuations about her record on sentencing in child porn cases.
On Monday, Mr. Bates briefed reporters for the first time on terra firma, and began with a defense of Judge Jackson. Bates cited fact-checks by The New York Times and The Washington Post showing that Republicans supported Trump nominees who similarly sentenced below the guidelines they have attacked Jackson over:
Something else that speaks to the strength of Judge Jackson’s qualifications — which a series of Republicans have affirmed make her unquestionably fit to serve on the Supreme Court — and to the strength of her record is the multitude of fact-checks from the press, from retired judges, and from former prosecutors who have dismantled attacks brought by a small group of GOP senators.
The truth is that every single one of the specific senators who joined in these bad-faith attacks on her sentencing record with respect to child pornography has voted for numerous Trump-nominated judges who sentenced defendants for the same crimes in the same fashion, below guidelines widely considered to be out of date across the judiciary and below what prosecutors sought, which is also a norm.
For example, last week, the Washington Post fact-checker wrote a piece headlined “These Trump Judges Failed Hawley’s Sentencing Test for Jackson.”
The New York Times fact-checking team also covered this, writing, “Critics of Jackson’s Child Sex Abuse Sentences Backed Judges with Similar Records.”
The Trump-nominated judges they surveyed received broad support and even included 6th Circuit Judge Amul Thapar, who was on Donald Trump’s shortlist for the Supreme Court.
This was all on top of a raft of other fact-checks already establishing that the basis of these criticisms was dishonest.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Judge Jackson’s nomination on April 4.
Watch above via Fox News.
