Anita Hill says she's voting for Joe Biden despite 'the mistakes that he made in the past'
- Anita Hill told CNN on Saturday she intends to vote for Joe Biden.
- Biden has faced criticism for decades over his handling of the 1991 Senate hearings in which Hill testified that then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her.
- Last year, Biden spoke with Hill about the 1991 hearings and expressed regret — a gesture which Hill said at the time was "not enough."
- But Hill told CNN she believed that despite Biden's "limitations in the past," she believed he should be elected in November over President Donald Trump.
Anita Hill said she intends to vote for Joe Biden in the November election, despite her past criticism of the man who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during her testimony against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991.
Biden spoke with Hill last year and expressed regret for the decades-old hearings — a gesture which Hill said at the time was "not enough."
Hill underwent a grueling hearing when she testified that Thomas sexually harassed her when they worked together, and Biden has long been criticized for not providing a fair process for Hill. Thomas, who denied Hill's allegations, was eventually confirmed to the Supreme Court.
But Hill told CNN on Saturday that despite Biden's shortcomings in the past, she believed he should be elected rather than President Donald Trump.
"Notwithstanding all of his limitations in the past, and the mistakes that he made in the past, notwithstanding those — at this point, between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, I think Joe Biden is the person who should be elected in November," Hill told CNN.
"My commitment is to finding solutions, and I am more than willing to work with him," she said, adding that she hoped to work on sexual harassment and gender discrimination issues.
Biden has repeatedly been asked about his conduct during the Hill hearing, and he told CNN in July he "believed her story from the very beginning" and wished he "could have protected her more."
Though Hill was dissatisfied with her conversation with Biden last year, she told CNN she believed he had since shown greater responsibility for his actions.
"There was a statement about 'I take accountability; I hold myself responsible for the way the hearing was run,'" she told CNN. "And so that, I think, is as close as we've gotten, you know, and that's good. That's an opening."
She continued: "I want the next president to be somebody that I can go to and talk about the real issues that women, men, and non-binary people are experiencing with violence in this country, that's directed to them because of their gender… I believe that Joe Biden would be that person. I do not believe that Donald Trump would be the person who would hear me."
- Read more:
- Joe Biden suggests supporters of the 'mortifying' QAnon conspiracy theory should seek mental health treatment
- My son 'wasn't a sucker': Biden demands Trump apologize if he called US troops killed in combat 'losers'
- Trump's 'law and order' messaging isn't sticking with voters as new polls show they trust Biden more on public safety
- Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook won't allow Trump to declare victory before the results are in