New Brunswick, N.J. – The Menendez for Senate Campaign today called on Republican Bob Hugin, who has his own long history of denying rights to women, to publicly condemn Donald Trump’s statements doubting the credibility of Deborah Ramirez’s sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh because she was drunk. Hugin remained silent after Trump attacked Kavanaugh’s first accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, claiming that if her sexual assault allegations were “as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities.”
“When a woman says ‘NO,’ it means ‘NO’ no matter what. To say that a woman cannot be the victim of a sex crime because she was intoxicated is victim shaming, plain and simple. It’s an attack on women everywhere,” said Menendez for Senate Communications Director Steve Sandberg. “What Donald Trump said about Ms. Ramirez is absolutely disgusting. Bob Hugin’s deafening silence is appalling. He stood with Trump after he admitted to sexually assaulting women. He stood with Trump when 15 women came forward with credible allegations against him. And now, Bob Hugin unabashedly stands with Trump who attacks women who bravely come forward with credible allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against his Supreme Court nominee. Bob Hugin will never stand up to Trump. He will never stand up for women. Bob Hugin is a disgrace and a fraud.”
Bob Hugin is on record supporting Kavanaugh’s nomination and says he hasn’t heard anything that would sway him from voting to confirm him, if he were in the Senate.
Bob Menendez voted against Kavanaugh’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006 and has said he would vote ‘No’ on his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senator has publically called for delaying a confirmation vote until Kavanaugh receives a thorough vetting, and criticized the current process and Senate Republicans for trying to push the nominee through without making his complete record available or fully investigating the allegations against him.
Greedy drug company CEO Bob Hugin fought a 13-year court battle to deny women access at Princeton University all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. He called the effort and New Jersey Supreme Court decision allowing women to join the university’s all-male eating clubs “politically correct fascism” and, as a married adult in his mid-30s, Hugin led the unsuccessful challenge in the federal courts to overturn the ruling and kick the women out.
Bob Menendez is a lifelong champion for women and the chief sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment. He voted for the Violence Against Women Act, cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act and the CAMPUS SAVE Act, to fight sexual assault on college campuses, supports a woman’s right to choose and equal pay, and has a 100% rating and endorsement from Planned Parenthood.
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