Matt Lauer calls out Ronan Farrow for ‘false’ claims in book ‘Catch and Kill’
Reaction and analysis from Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz.
"The View" co-host Joy Behar panned the idea that the media should "believe all women" who allege sexual misconduct and denied applying a different standard to Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"To me, if you say I believe any woman who makes any accusation -- if you say that, I think it minimizes our credibility as women, and then nobody's going to believe anybody at some point," Behar said.
The co-hosts were discussing former NBC host Matt Lauer's full-throated attack on Ronan Farrow's reporting, which cited a woman accusing the former "Today" star of rape. That prompted Behar to reference allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden and President Trump.
Behar added: "So these things have to be thoroughly investigated, thoroughly vetted. I would like to have all 24 of the women who are accusing Trump of sexual assault be vetted and let's hear from them also. Let us hear from [them]. We heard from Tara [Reade]. Let's hear from them. We heard from Matt now. Let's hear from the woman again. I mean, everybody has to have a voice in this. I feel as though it can be used as a political cudgel against a political rival, and that, I think, is dangerous."
"Kind of like with Brett Kavanaugh?" co-host Meghan McCain interjected, before laughing. "I'm just saying." She added that she was hearing "an entirely different tune" than what she heard with Kavanaugh's allegations.
Fox News previously noted that, for weeks, "The View" didn't discuss Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation against Biden after it surfaced in the media. Both Behar and her co-host Sunny Hostin have made comments indicating they believed Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
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For example, Behar denounced in 2018 the "white men" on the Senate Judiciary Committee for "protecting a man who is probably guilty." She also called on Kavanaugh to take a lie-detector test to prove his innocence.
“Let’s see that from you, or are you a coward?” she asked at the time.
Behar's Wednesday comments seemed to reflect her earlier concerns about investigating allegations, as she also criticized Senate Republicans for pushing Kavanaugh's confirmation without an FBI investigation.
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On Wednesday's show, Behar suggested she wasn't singing an "entirely different tune" as McCain suggested others were doing.
"All I'm saying is you don't ipso facto believe somebody," she said. She added that she believed the Kavanaugh allegation was investigated.
Hostin also pushed back on McCain's commentary, saying that she believed all women should be heard, but not necessarily believed.
"Can I just say this in terms of, we have to believe all women? I think the point is that women should be heard when it comes to being victimized. I spent a lot of my career being a sex crimes prosecutor, and the bottom line is women have to be heard. They have that right, and the problem with sexual assault in this country is that women feel that they are not going to be heard, that they are not going to be believed, and that is why rape continues to be the most underreported crime in this country," she said.
"And when it comes to Brett Kavanaugh, Dr. Ford testified. She testified, and was able to tell her side of the story, and her claims were not thoroughly investigated by the FBI because Congress shut her investigation down and didn't give her investigation the breadth and the depth that it deserved. That is the bottom line there. So no one I don't think on this show is saying that women should not be heard."
'THE VIEW' CO-HOST JOY BEHAR SAYS 'WHITE MEN' ARE PROTECTING 'PROBABLY GUILTY' BRETT KAVANAUGH
Almost from the very beginning, Hostin declared that Dr. Ford's allegations were "very credible" and "extremely important" ahead of Kavanaugh's lifetime appointment. Following her testimony, Hostin declared that Ford was "150 percent credible" and that Kavanaugh wasn't nearly credible as his accuser.
"Testimony is evidence! You don't need corroborating evidence. You don't need a rape kit. You don't need witnesses because oftentimes, guess what? There are no witnesses during rape! When you're talking about evidence, testimonial evidence is the very best in the system!" Hostin exclaimed.
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In a heated discussion with former co-host Abby Huntsman, Hostin, a former attorney, argued that "you don't need corroborating evidence" to prove a sexual assault in court. The hosts were also quick to defend Ford from President Trump, who they blasted for repeatedly attacking the Kavanaugh accuser on Twitter, at the White House, and on the campaign trail.
"The View" even welcomed disgraced anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti by phone to tout his client Julie Swetnick, whose allegation of being gang-raped by Kavanaugh was widely considered as non-credible following extensive vetting of her claim.
Fox News' Brian Flood and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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