House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is standing by Joe Biden amid credible sexual assault allegations against him, but she had a remarkably different view of the unproven allegations against Brett Kavanaugh just 19 months ago.
On Thursday, she appeared on CNN's New Day and was asked about her endorsement of Biden.
"Speaker, I also want to ask you about former Vice President Joe Biden and about this allegation that is being made by one of his former Senate staffers," said CNN host Alisyn Camerota. "Do you think that it is time for Vice President Biden to address this head on himself?"
"Well, I have great sympathy for any women who bring forth an allegation," Pelosi answered. "I’m a big strong supporter of the #MeToo movement. I think it has been a great — made a great contribution to our country. And — and I do support Joe Biden. I’m satisfied with how he has responded. I know him, I was proud to endorse him on Monday, very proud to endorse him. And so I’m satisfied with that."
"I mean, he hasn’t, to be clear, he hasn’t addressed it, his campaign has addressed it, but he has not directly addressed it," Camerota countered. "Should he directly publicly address it?"
"You know, it is a matter that he has to deal with," answered Pelosi. "But I am impressed with the people who work for him at the time saying that absolutely never heard one iota of information about this, nobody ever brought forth a claim or had anybody else tell them about such a claim. But, again, we have an important election at hand, one that is, I think, one of the most important ones we had, we say that every election, but I think this is the most crucial, and I supported him because he’s a person of great values, integrity, authenticity, imagination, and connection to the American people."
Earlier this month, she said something similar to MSNBC's Ari Melber.
"Are you satisfied with [Biden's] answer [to the allegations]?" Melber asked.
"Yes, I am," Pelosi answered. "I'm very much involved in this issue. I always want to give the opportunity to women to be heard. I am satisfied with his answer, yes."
What Pelosi meant is that because Biden is a Democrat, she will give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, she's been doing it for decades. When Michigan Congressman John Conyers was credibly accused of sexual misconduct and ultimately forced to resign in 2017, Pelosi defended him.
"Do you believe his accusers?" asked "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd.
"I don’t know who they are," Pelosi answered. "They have not come forward."
"You don’t know if you believe the accusations?" Todd followed up.
"That is for the Ethics Committee," Pelosi responded. "I believe he understands what is at stake. All of these nondisclosure agreements have to go. Some of them are there to protect the victim because they didn’t want some of it to be public. That is over. In other words, if the victim wants to be private she can be. He or she can be."
Pelosi, however, wouldn't enforce what she referred to as a "zero tolerance policy" on sexual misconduct among House Democrats and demand that Conyers resign.
"You said there is now zero tolerance," Todd reminded her.
"We are strengthened by due process and just because someone is accused and is it one accusations or two?" Pelosi responded. "He has done a great deal to protect women."
Just a year later, though, Pelosi threw due process out the window when she demanded that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination even though an FBI investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing in decades-old accusations from multiple woman (none of whose stories could be corroborated).
"I join [Senate Majority] Leader [Chuck] Schumer in calling for Judge Kavanaugh to withdraw his name from consideration," she said in a news conference on September 26, 2018. "If he does not, at the very least, this hearing should be postponed because other allegations have come forward. We insist on investigation. It’s not that it’s a vetting by the FBI, the normal vetting of the FBI of a federal appointee, in this case for life, to the Supreme Court."
Two days later, after Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Kavanaugh vehemently denied every one of her uncorroborated allegations, Pelosi accused Senate Republicans of trying to silence women across the country.
"The American people were moved and some cases heartbroken by the courageous testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford," she said. "Dr. Ford told her story with extraordinary dignity and grace, bravery, and unimpeachable credibility. With their response the Republican men of the Senate have sent an unmistakable message to women and girls everywhere, if you come forward, you will not be respected and you will not be listened to."
Once Kavanaugh was confirmed, Pelosi issued an even more direct statement.
"Today is a profoundly heart-breaking day for women, girls and families across America," she said. "Courageous women risked their safety and well-being to speak truth about this nomination. Tens of thousands more joined them to share their own harrowing stories of sexual assault, at great personal risk. Yet, Senate Republicans chose to send a clear message to all women: do not speak out, and if you do – do not expect to be heard, believed or respected."
Today, of course, she is refusing to hear, believe, or respect Tara Reade--whose story is infinitely more corroborated than Ford's--and is standing by her endorsement of Biden. This should not be at all surprising, however. As far back as 1998, Pelosi was defending Democrats who were credibly accused to sexual assault.
"Why the silence when there have been these allegations about President [Bill] Clinton?" asked "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.
"I would like to say that I think the women in America are speaking out about what they think about this whole situation and the women of America are just like other Americans in that they value fairness," Pelosi answered. "They value privacy and do not want to see a person with uncontrolled power, uncontrolled time, uncontrolled, unlimited money investigating the President of the United States."
That Pelosi would spend decades defending Democrats like Clinton, Conyers, and Biden while demanding Kavanaugh's resignation is to be expected: It is the very definition of a profile in hypocrisy.