Within the first 30 seconds of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) opening statements during Thursday’s Senate hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) interrupted her.
“Before you get to your testimony, and the chairman chose not to do this, I think it’s important to make sure you’re introduced. And I have to ―” Feinstein said before Grassley broke in.
“I was going to introduce her, but if you want to introduce, I’d be glad to have you do that. But I want you to know I didn’t forget to do it, because I would do that just as she was about to speak,” he said.
Feinstein responded with a cool and unbothered “Thank you.”
That was just the first of several interruptions by Grassley throughout the four-hour Senate hearing on Thursday. Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.
Grassley went on to interrupt Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and even Rachel Mitchell, the Arizona prosecutor hired by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans to question Blasey.
Many viewers were not happy with Grassley’s antics.
“Chuck Grassley has now been a jerk to every woman in this hearing who has dared to speak,” Twitter user Bill Palmer wrote.
Twitter user Charlotte Clymer said, “Chuck Grassley just can’t seem to help himself. Even in obviously hiring a woman lawyer to hide his sexism, it just bursts out in the open with these condescending interruptions.”
Scroll below to read more reactions to Grassley’s continual interruptions.
In addition to Blasey’s allegations, Kavanaugh has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by two other women
Kavanaugh will testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee after Blasey on Thursday. A committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination is set for Friday.