Multiple Republican lawmakers have expressed regret over hiring outside counsel Rachel Mitchell to question Christine Blasey Ford at Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The Republican senators yielded their time to Mitchell, a sex crimes prosecutor. Yet, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) noted that it may not have been the best decision.
"I haven’t seen the whole thing but I wish our counsel had a longer period of time rather than breaking it up into five minute segments,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “It’s just chopped up [so] you don’t have … a really good fact-finding type of exchange. That’s been unfortunate.” (Politico)
The five-minute questioning was “a little awkward," he added.
Fox News contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano agreed.
“Rachel Mitchell not only is not laying a glove on her, but, in my view, is actually helping her credibility by the gentility with which these questions are being asked and the open-ended answers that the witness is being permitted to give” Napolitano said after the first round of questioning. “The president cannot be happy with this.”
Mitchell herself poked fun at the awkward process.
"Would you believe me if I told you that there’s no study that says this setting, in five-minute increments, is the best way to do that," Mitchell asked Ford.
Still, others noted the benefits of having Mitchell pose some questions for the witnesses.
You can immediately see why having Rachel Mitchell ask questions makes sense. Instead of Senators who give speeches to prove their own points, Mitchell asks questions aimed at establishing facts.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 27, 2018
Not sure why people are criticizing Rachel Mitchell’s performance. She has unearthed a myriad of inconsistencies with Ford’s testimony between her polygraph letter, Feinstein letter, WaPo article, and what she is saying now.
— Lisa Boothe (@LisaMarieBoothe) September 27, 2018
In his first round of questioning, Judge Kavanaugh passionately denied all allegations.