A Fox News reporter vividly recalls his encounter with the “sleazy” attorney representing one of the accusers of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Doug McKelway, a Washington, D.C. based reporter for Fox News, was an NBC anchor in the mid 1990s when he set off to interview Debra Katz, the lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford.
He recalled the doomed interview in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
My Debra Katz story. In the mid 1990s, I was anchoring for NBC4 in DC. She sent a fax to us alerting us to a racial discrimination suit she was filing against Bank of America. It was late Friday afternoon. I read the suit. It was incredibly weak, smelled of a shakedown attempt..
— Doug McKelway (@dougmckelway) September 27, 2018
McKelway, who joined Fox News Channel in 2010, previously served as an anchor for WJLA-TV in Washington, DC, and as a reporter and anchor for WRC-TV (NBC4) also in Washington.
He recounted the meeting with Katz and how he verbalized his suspicions to the attorney.
Went to her office with camera. Got miked up. I told her it smelled of a shakedown attempt, and I was familiar with the technique of late Friday accusation, too late for deep pocketed organization to respond with its multi-layered PR office in some distant city. The story would..
— Doug McKelway (@dougmckelway) September 27, 2018
Stew over the weekend, prolly result in a settlement, sparing her the hard work of trial preparation. She then …
— Doug McKelway (@dougmckelway) September 27, 2018
Ripped the mike off, called my lefty news director, who then called me, and pulled me off the story. It’s riveted in my memory. Always thought she was sleazy, and I guess my news director was, too.
— Doug McKelway (@dougmckelway) September 27, 2018
Katz, it was revealed in a Wall Street Journal report, has another connection to the Kavanaugh accusations. Her law firm reportedly represented Julie Swetnick, Kavanaugh’s third accuser, in a sexual harassment complaint against her former employer, New York Life Insurance, more than a decade ago.
The Washington lawyer known for her work on sexual harassment cases sang a very different tune in the 1980s as Paula Jones sued former President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. While Jones accused Clinton of touching her and exposing himself to her while in a hotel room, Katz repeatedly dismissed her claims as too weak to hold up in court.
”If a woman came to me with a similar fact pattern, that is someone in the company above her propositioned her but only once and she suffered no tangible job detriment,” Ms. Katz told The New York Times back in 1998, ”I would probably tell her that I’m sorry, it’s unfair, but you don’t have a case.”
”If it’s one time, it has to be severe, almost a sexual assault, not just a touching of somebody’s breast or buttocks or even forceful kissing,” she said.
Katz has even defended former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct.
“Context is relevant,” Katz said of the former comedian.“He did not do this as a member of the U.S. Senate. He did this in his capacity of someone who was still functioning as an entertainer.”
The Trump-hating lawyer has also been a stauch Democratic donor and was seen in a video from a February 2017 protest rally following the confirmation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Flashback: Kavanaugh accuser’s lawyer vows to ‘fight back’ in hyperbolic on-camera rant at resistance rally https://t.co/AuJ4GYkCS7 pic.twitter.com/KBRlnGOWr9
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) September 22, 2018
The story Fox News’ McKelway shared about his encounter with Katz sparked angry reactions on Twitter.
Wow! At least you went with your gut and called her out.
— YourSpiritualBread (@YourSpiritBread) September 27, 2018
So you can corroborate as to the type and quality of shake down artist we are dealing with here. ??
— RandomPatsFan (@PatsRandom) September 27, 2018
You can hold your head up high. Wish there were more upstanding reporters like you!
— Diane Nawn (@DianeNawn) September 27, 2018
Liberals Lie. It is what they do. It is who they are.
— Brad Gillin (@Bradonis001) September 27, 2018
And in those 20 yrs she still hasn’t changed
— Blondi ~~???? (@TonyaLM824) September 27, 2018
Sounds like a serial scammer.
— Mike (@soyfreemike) September 27, 2018
People like her are bullies and get rich on others weaknesses. Karma takes no prisoners, hope it finds her!
— B.A.Carver (@NoCowpieZone) September 27, 2018
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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