President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee was questioned about his positions on gun control on Wednesday and appealed to his experience living in an “urban” area plagued by gun, drug and gang violence.
In answering questions from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kavanaugh appealed to his upbringing in Washington, D.C. At the time, the city was, in Brett Kavanaugh’s words “the murder capital of the world.”
“I’m a native of this area, I’m a native of an urban-suburban area. I grew up in a city plagued by gun violence and gang violence and drug violence,” Kavanaugh claimed. “So I fully understand, as I explained in the opinion, the importance of this issue. I specifically referenced Police Chief Cathy Lanier’s goals of reducing gang and gun violence was something I certainly applauded but that I had to follow the precedent of the Supreme Court in that case.”
But Kavanaugh is not from Washington, D.C. He’s from in Bethesda, where he attended Mater Dei, a Bethesda-based Catholic prep school before going to Georgetown Preparatory School.
Bethesda is part of Montgomery County, the eighth most-wealthy county in the United States.
Kavanaugh now lives in Chevy Chase, a suburb known for its long history of racism. It’s known as one of the richest and whitest cities in the country.
Watch the exchange below.
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