The father of a child killed in the Parkland, Florida, high school massacre has a message for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh: Not getting a promotion doesn’t mean your life is over.
“Justice Kavanaugh, your life and family are not ruined,” Fred Guttenberg tweeted on Thursday following testimony from Kavanaugh, who has been accused by three women of sexual misconduct. “Try having a child murdered by a weapon that you refer to as ‘common use.’ You will get through this and hug both of your children tonight.”
He added in a follow-up tweet that Kavanaugh has made himself out to be a victim, but is ultimately just a “bad person.”
Guttenberg is a gun control activist whose daughter, 14-year-old Jaime, was killed in the February school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
On Thursday, following emotional testimony from Christine Blasey Ford where she detailed her sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, the judge gave his own testimony in which he yelled, cried and interrupted senators attempting to ask him questions about the alleged misconduct.
“My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations,” Kavanaugh said in his opening statement, adding that he believes Blasey’s claim has been used as a “calculated and orchestrated political hit” designed to keep him off the Supreme Court.
Blasey has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed, covering her mouth with his hand and attempting to forcibly remove her clothing while they were at a gathering in high school. The FBI is now looking into the claim.
Guttenberg attended Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing earlier this month, which became highly publicized after the father attempted to shake the judge’s hand and speak to him about gun violence only to be flatly ignored.
“I’m the father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was murdered in Parkland,” Guttenberg told Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh turned his back on Guttenberg and walked away.
“When he started walking away, it was after my introduction. I was saying to him, ‘I just want to talk to you about what happened to my daughter in Parkland,’” Guttenberg told HuffPost at the time. “I think I said it twice, but he moved past. He got to a certain point, I put up my hand and waved and said, ‘Have a good day.’”
Guttenberg was later detained and questioned by Capitol police. He insisted to HuffPost that immediately prior to his detainment, Kavanaugh turned to him and winked.
“I don’t hold grudges ― that’s not who I am,” Guttenberg said of the incident. “My goal is to find common ground. I absolutely would meet with him, I would be happy to. No grudges. If there’s a chance for us to talk, father to father, it would be my honor to do it.”
Kavanaugh is also accused of exposing himself to Deborah Ramirez while the two were in college and thrusting his penis in her face. And Julie Swetnick said she was the “victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present” at a party in approximately 1982. He has denied all of the allegations.