Louisiana Senator Tells Anti-Kavanaugh Protester’s Children: ‘Your Parents Are Using You as Tools’

Louisiana Senator Tells Anti-Kavanaugh Protester’s Children: ‘Your Parents Are Using You as Tools’
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) speaks at a hearing about the potential modernization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Oct. 6, 2015. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Tom Ozimek
10/14/2018
Updated:
10/14/2018

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) gave a decisive response to an anti-Kavanaugh protester who brought her children to Capitol Hill to take part in the confrontation.

A female voice, alleged by The Daily Caller to belong to Alethea Torrellas Shapiro, can be heard alerting her children that the Republican senator is making his way down a Senate office building hallway, in a video obtained by the Daily Caller and shared on Friday, Oct. 12.

“Senator Cassidy, can you please apologize to my children for ruining their futures?” Shapiro can be heard calling out to Cassidy as he reached the spot where the children were stationed.

The woman’s question was an apparent reference to the unsubstantiated sexual misconduct allegations against now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed last week by a 50-48 margin in the Senate.

Cassidy was among the “yes” votes.

In the video, the Louisiana Senator can be seen stopping and taking out his earbuds before saying to the children, “Hey, guess what? In the future, if somebody makes an—I know your parents are using you as tools—but in the future, if somebody makes an allegation against you, and there’s no proof for it, you will be OK. Thank you.”

“No, we’re not using them as tools. We’re not using them as tools,” Shapiro said as she and her friend pursued Cassidy down the hall.

The protester that accompanied Shapiro was Triana Arnold James, according to Fox News.

“Why is it that [Kavanaugh] gets the benefit of the doubt, and he gets the presumption of innocence, but black men get the presumption of guilt?” James told Fox News. “If it applies for one, it should apply for all. It should be across the board.”

As the women pursued Cassidy, they could be heard complaining that the Kavanaugh investigation lacked “a full due process.”

“Listen to what we have to say,” the women insisted, as Cassidy walked towards an elevator.

“Shame on you,” the woman says, “for not believing women and for ruining my daughters’ lives.”

Shapiro documented her efforts to protest Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court in numerous social media posts, according to Fox News.

“I’m at the back of scotus [sic] waiting for Kavanaugh with my kids and a bunch of other protesters does anyone know if he’s inside yet?” Shapiro wrote in a since deleted Twitter post on Tuesday.

“Tomorrow I plan on birddogging in the Senate hallways and basement with all 4 of my kids (my daughters are 12, 10 and my boys are 5, 3),” Shapiro wrote in a Facebook post, since deleted, according to the Daily Caller. “I [want] these horrible atrocious men to see the faces of the future that they are ruining and to know the tremendous pain women and men are feeling now that they confirmed Kavanaugh.”

The Daily Caller published a screenshot of the alleged post.

Screenshot of a Facebook post (since deleted) allegedly by Alethea Torrellas Shapiro, a protester who with her children reportedly confronted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), according to The Daily Caller. (Screengrab via The Daily Caller)
Screenshot of a Facebook post (since deleted) allegedly by Alethea Torrellas Shapiro, a protester who with her children reportedly confronted Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), according to The Daily Caller. (Screengrab via The Daily Caller)

According to The Daily Caller, “Shapiro was harassing senators on the Hill for days and regularly used her school-aged children” in confrontations with politicians.

Left-wing protesters have embraced a more confrontational and aggressive approach recently, a case in point being chasing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his wife out of a restaurant in Washington.

A number of prominent Democratic politicians have appeared to encourage such behavior.

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said it’s not possible to be civil with Republicans any longer.

“You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about,” Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Oct. 9. “That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder recently said it’s time to “kick” Republicans.
“Michelle always says, ‘When they go low, we go high,’” he said at a rally in support of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in Stockbridge, Georgia on Oct. 7. “No. When they go low, we kick ‘em.”

“We saw the lack of civility and the angry mobs even before the comments from Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder, so we fully expect leftwing activists will continue to harass members of Congress up through Election Day,” a senior Republican aide told Fox News on Friday.

“The radical Democrats have turned into an angry mob,” President Donald Trump said at a recent rally.

“There is going to be an assassination if this doesn’t ratchet down,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), according to Fox, before calling for a “toning down of the rhetoric.”