Parkland Father Fred Guttenberg: I Just Wanted to Speak to Kavanaugh as a Father

 

Parkland father Fred Guttenberg appeared on CNN tonight to talk about what he said was a snub by Brett Kavanaugh at today’s hearing.

On Twitter earlier, Guttenberg said, “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.” White House official Raj Shah said that security intervened, to which Guttenberg responded, “No security involved. He turned and walked away.”

On CNN tonight, Guttenberg said he approached Kavanaugh as a dad who lost his daughter in the Parkland school shooting and who has serious concerns about “how he is going to rule on certain things that matter a lot to me.”

He continued:

“Candidly, my hope to him was simply to say, ‘I hope you change your stance. I hope you look in my eye. I hope you see that this pin that I wear on my lapel or these bracelets that I wear, that’s all I have to get close to my daughter now, and I hope you can be part in making sure no other parent has to feel the way I do because we can fix this.’ And I have concern that he won’t be that person, but he’s a father and I tried––I was hoping to appeal to that.”

He went on to explain the moment when he tried to approach Kavanaugh, saying he approached him and tried to get his attention and “put out my hand to shake his hand.”

Guttenberg said he introduced himself and told Kavanaugh he was the father of a girl who was murdered in Parkland, claiming, “That’s when you saw him turn and move and walk the other way.”

“All he had to do is extend his hand back and say, ‘I’m sorry for your loss, tell me about your daughter.’ That’s it!” he added, before claiming Kavanaugh may have spoken to security about him.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Josh Feldman is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: josh@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @feldmaniac