*Former Vice President Joe Biden condemned “white man’s culture” while defending Anita Hill Tuesday night in New York City at an event honoring young people who helped combat sexual assault on college campuses.
Biden claims he’s regretful over his role in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings that weakened Hill’s credibility nearly three decades ago, msn.com reports.
The Democratic presidential prospect said Hill should not have been subjected to an interrogation by a panel of “white guys” about her sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas.
“To this day I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to give her the kind of hearing she deserved,” he said, echoing comments he delivered last amid Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. “I wish I could have done something.”
OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: Virtual Museum Honors Harriet Tubman, Emmett & Mamie Till
Joe Biden on Anita Hill: “I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved.”
But that was literally his job. Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Hill hearing. pic.twitter.com/hzmPI1eazq
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) March 27, 2019
His comments were swiftly condemned on social media, with many noting that Biden was in a position “to do better” because he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time of the hearing.
Actress and political activist Mia Farrow called his role in the 1991 hearings “shameful.”
“Love you Joe but you were in a position to do better — and you didn’t,” she said.
“It literally does not matter what else Biden says about sexual assault if he cannot acknowledge his own culpability in putting a sexual assaulter on the Supreme Court and then pretending for years like he was powerless to stop it,” tweeted Jessica Morales Rocketto, political director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
Biden previously stated at Glamour’s Women of the Year summit in 2017 that he was “so sorry” that Anita “had to go through what she went through” during the hearings, and later told Teen Vogue that “I owe her an apology” for not doing more to pump the brakes on the attacks on her character by Republican members of the committee.
“He said he apologized, but he hasn’t apologized to me,” Hill later responded, TheWrap reported.
“The statute of limitations has run on an apology. I don’t need an apology. But sometimes when the doorbell rings, and I am not expecting anyone, I think, could that be Joe Biden?” she joked.
Hill agrees that Biden “could have done more” to support her testimony, such as calling her supporting witnesses.
During the event Tuesday night, Biden also called on Americans to change the archaic “culture” that allows pervasive violence against women.
“It’s an English jurisprudential culture, a white man’s culture. It’s got to change,” he said.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
