Dagen McDowell blasts 'sexist' Whitehouse for 'hypocritical' speech on 'dark money' at Barrett hearing
The Rhode Island lawmaker spoke for 30 minutes without asking Barrett a single question
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Senate Judiciary Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., spent the time allotted for him to question Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett Tuesday on a "hypocritical monologue" that claimed "dark money" was behind her nomination, "The Five" co-host Dagen McDowell argued.
"I wanted to talk about Sheldon Whitehouse and the hypocritical monologue or lecture that he hacked up in front of her," McDowell began. "[He didn't] ask her one question. Not one. He implied that Amy Coney Barrett is not there because of her accomplishments, because of her intellect, because of how she's lived her life, but that she's there because she's a pawn of dark money.
"Hypocrite! You know what that also is?" she asked. "That's sexist. Let me call him out on it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McDowell recounted how Whitehouse, a former federal prosecutor, offered a 30-minute dissertation on how the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network have purportedly conspired to spend millions of dollars in support of judicial nominees that support their agenda.
Whitehouse laid out his theory during th hearing on a posterboard labeled "The Scheme."
“In all cases, there’s big anonymous money behind various lanes of activity,” he said, holding up a sign bearing the names of the Federalist Society and the Judicial Crisis Network along with a reference to legal “groups,” all of whom purportedly receive millions in anonymous donations as they influence judicial nominations and court cases.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Whitehouse further tied issues like abortion and health care to large donations to conservative judicial groups and statements from Republicans about judicial nominations.
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He then referred to briefs from Republican senators arguing that courts should overturn the Affordable Care Act, as well as the claim often made by Democrats that Trump specifically chose Barrett for the Supreme Court to rule against the health care law.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He lectured [Barrett] ... She kept her composure, she showed her incredible fortitude," McDowell said on "The Five". "Every woman watching today knows what their reaction would've been. It would've been [an] eye roll: 'Ask me a question! Get on with it!' They wouldn't have tolerated that, but she did and it speaks to her character."
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.