Sen. Bill Cassidy Tells Kavanaugh Protester’s Children Their Parents Are ‘Using You As Tools’

An interaction between a protester on Capitol Hill and a Republican senator was captured on video, and posted on social media on Friday evening.

In the video, a woman by the name of Alethea Torrellas Shapiro is heard asking Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) to apologize to her kids for his vote to confirm now-sitting Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to reporting from the Washington Examiner.

“Sen. Cassidy, can you please apologize to my children for ruining their futures?” Shapiro said.

In the video, Cassidy stops dead in his tracks, bends slightly to speak to the children, and responds to Shapiro’s demands — but not in the way that she wanted him to.

“Hey, guess what — I know your parents are using you as tools,” Cassidy said to the children.

Shapiro responds sharply to Cassidy’s assertions. “No, we’re not using them as tools. We’re not using them as tools,” she said.

Continuing to speak to the children, Cassidy went on. “But in the future, if somebody makes an allegation against you, and there’s no proof for it, you will be OK. Thank you,” he said.

The senator then walked away, ignoring the continued protestations from Shapiro.

“Shame on you for not believing women and for ruining my daughters’ lives!” she said to Cassidy as he made his way down the hallway.

Protester demands that GOP Senator @BillCassidy "apologize to my children for ruining their futures.”

Cassidy looks at the kids: “Guess what? Your parents are using you as tools. In the future if somebody makes an allegation against you & there’s no proof for it, you'll be OK." pic.twitter.com/y6WKtPhpYO

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 12, 2018

Kavanaugh’s nomination was upended when allegations that he committed sexual assault against women when he was younger came forward. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University in California, alleged Kavanaugh held her down, groped her, and tried to remove her swimsuit at a party when they were both teenagers. Other women stepped forward as well, per previous reporting from the Inquisitr.

The allegations from these women, including Senate testimony from Ford herself, resulted in a last-minute, week-long investigation from the FBI. No corroborating evidence was found from that investigation, although critics point out that the inquiry was limited in scope by the White House, and did not reach out to dozens of potential witnesses, according to reporting from NBC News at the time.

The way in which the investigation and confirmation hearings were handled did not sit well with many Americans, according to a recent poll put out by ABC News and the Washington Post. While the Senate vote was close, with 50 senators voting to confirm and 48 senators voting to deny Kavanaugh a seat on the High Court, a majority of Americans (51 percent) disapproved of his confirmation. Just 41 percent felt his Senate approval was a good thing.