Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland shooting victim Jaime Guttenberg, claims that Brett Kavanaugh refused to shake his hand today:
Just walked up to Judge Kavanaugh as morning session ended. Put out my hand to introduce myself as Jaime Guttenberg's dad. He pulled his hand back, turned his back to me and walked away. I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence.
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) September 4, 2018
Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jamie Guttenberg who was killed in the shooting in Parkland, Fla., left, tries to shake hands with @realDonaldTrump's Supreme Court nom., Brett Kavanaugh, right, during a lunch break. Kavanaugh did not shake his hand. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) @ap pic.twitter.com/smcCGuLT6X
— Andrew Harnik (@andyharnik) September 4, 2018
Unsurprisingly, liberals looking for yet another reason to hate Kavanaugh are up in arms:
Brett Kavanaugh, a potential Supreme Court justice, refused to shake the hand of @fred_guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was murdered in her high school in Parkland, Florida. Remember that the @NRA spent $30M to elect Trump who would, in turn, appoint Kavanaugh.
?: @andyharnik pic.twitter.com/5u31ElGz82
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) September 4, 2018
Wow, here's Kavanaugh giving @fred_guttenberg a contemptuous look before turning his back on him. Guttenberg's daughter was killed in the Parkland gun massacre pic.twitter.com/Fz9e0gwytv
— Tommy MMXIXtopher (@tommyxtopher) September 4, 2018
Here’s the video: @fred_guttenberg tells Kavanaugh that his daughter "was murdered in Parkland” and holds out his hand to Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh – a father himself – gives Fred a contemptuous look before turning his back on him and walking away. pic.twitter.com/l4WSQjEMTs
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) September 4, 2018
POTUS is for now. SCOTUS is for life.
Fred Guttenberg is the father of a Parkland victim: https://t.co/OXUNxvMRrc— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) September 4, 2018
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Wow. So much for judges being courageous. Long suspected that Brett Kavanaugh was a coward given the way Republicans are hiding his documents from the Bush admin. Thanks for showing us your courage yet again, @Fred_Guttenberg
— ?Laurie #WhoseHouseOurHouse (@lauriedtmann) September 4, 2018
Shame on Kavanaugh. How could you treat a father who lost his child this way? https://t.co/LYXrh9R9d1
— Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) September 4, 2018
Vile. Despicable. Deplorable. https://t.co/K1euk1oy4K
— Lisa Guerrero ?? (@4lisaguerrero) September 4, 2018
If Kavanaugh won’t even give him a handshake, how can we believe he would give gun violence victims a fair shake in court? https://t.co/OiDP6lB1Ez
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) September 4, 2018
His instincts revealed in a nano-second. No compassion, no empathy – simply disdain for someone who doesn't suck up to him. https://t.co/ZFOyGVEeBU
— Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) September 4, 2018
What Guttenberg failed to mention was his own previous statements about Brett Kavanaugh:
…..who said Kavanaugh doesn’t care about 9/11 victims https://t.co/vkwkNumurO
— Will (@Oil_Guns_Merica) September 4, 2018
Guttenberg indeed said that:
Wow @fred_guttenberg can’t believe Kavanaugh didn’t wanna shake your hand after you called him a menace who doesn’t care about 9/11 victims pic.twitter.com/4V8DIPXtZO
— Will (@Oil_Guns_Merica) September 4, 2018
Must’ve slipped his mind or something.
https://twitter.com/michi83/status/1037041766631972864
For what it’s worth, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah has a different explanation for what happened:
As Judge Kavanaugh left for his lunch break, an unidentified individual approached him. Before the Judge was able to shake his hand, security had intervened. https://t.co/ylOhtA1s6G
— Raj Shah (@RajShah45) September 4, 2018
And here’s another angle:
Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter in the tragic Parkland shooting, approached Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and claimed that Kavanaugh refused to shake his hand.
As can be seen in this video clip, security immediately intervened and moved Kavanaugh away. pic.twitter.com/RertGJ3A9m
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 4, 2018
Welp.
Huh. This is different than “he pulled his hand back”. That makes Fred a liar about the interaction. https://t.co/Ef6OKJlM7I
— pouncing and seizing Brad (@bradcundiff) September 4, 2018
It's very difficult to watch the video of the incident and think that this tweet was intended to be accurate https://t.co/XeayBLA1ve
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) September 4, 2018
Fred Guttenberg’s attempt to shake Brett Kavanaugh’s hand as he was leaving seems like an ambush rooted in bad faith. Judging from the video, Kavanaugh looked like he was caught completely off guard by a stranger he did not know. pic.twitter.com/Ak6iifWHwF
— siraj hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) September 4, 2018
In any event, Guttenberg’s framing of what happened leaves quite a bit to be desired. Namely any understanding of why Kavanaugh might not be in any rush to shake the hand of a man who confronts him during what has been a hearing fraught with angry outbursts from unhinged protesters.
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1037041296739889152
Yes how dare he not immediately offer his hand to a stranger approaching in a room so unhinged overall that security just had to escort his daughters out https://t.co/39scrmS9eY
— Rebekah Bydlak (@rebekahbydlak) September 4, 2018
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.
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Updates:
SNUB-GATE UPDATE: You WON'T BELIEVE where Parkland dad Fred Guttenberg's headed (except you TOTALLY will) https://t.co/advD829o6Z
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 4, 2018
Fellow Parkland father Andrew Pollack has a message for Fred Guttenberg https://t.co/mSjJfmxt8L
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 4, 2018
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