California Rep. Ro Khanna was the first member of Congress to call for the resignation of Sen. Dianne Feinstein over her monthslong absence from the Senate and echoed that call a day after reporters had an encounter with Feinstein and came away with the impression she forgot she had been absent.
After the 89-year-old Feinstein returned last week, Khanna told Politico, “I stand by what I said at the time, because three months is a long time to be absent without any clarity,” though added, “But given where we are, I’m hopeful. I’m giving the situation the benefit of the doubt and hopeful that she’ll be able to fulfill her duty, that’s what I care about.”
Politico characterized those comments as Khanna “seem[ing] to slightly step away from his call” for Feinstein's resignation, though he did tell Politico he still thinks the senator should resign.
Wednesday — a day after reporters from Slate and the Los Angeles Times spoke with Feinstein, who reportedly told them, “I haven’t been gone; I’ve been working” — Khanna was more emphatic.
“I have a lot of respect for Senator Feinstein and I am wishing her the best in her return and recovery,” he wrote in an email to SFGATE. “That being said, I stand by my call for her to resign.”
Khanna declined to comment specifically on Feinstein's Tuesday incident with reporters, but it's not difficult to read between the lines. Gone are any notes about him being “hopeful” about her recovery or her deserving “the benefit of the doubt.”
There has been a barrage of reporting calling Feinstein's mental acuity into question over the past year, and what happened Tuesday is just one of many unconformable encounters she's had with reporters of late.
Despite the heap of public evidence calling her ability to serve into question, as well as a lengthy shingles hospitalization that stalled a group of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees, Khanna is one of only a handful of members of the House who have called for her to resign. No members of the Senate have joined him either.
In fact, Khanna's Wednesday remarks stand in sharp contrast to those made by some of his California counterparts who defended the senator when speaking to Politico.
“I’m delighted that she’s back and that she’s voting and participating in the Judiciary Committee and I think that it says it all,” Rep. Mike Levin said Wednesday. “I’m happy she’s back and happy she’s able to perform her duties.”
“Democrats don’t get in the way of conversations between patients and their doctors,” said Rep. Ted Lieu. “Sen. Feinstein came back last week and she voted, and that was very good.”
whyreadthis2035 on May 17th, 2023 at 20:10 UTC »
Where is her family. She’s ill.
sedatedlife on May 17th, 2023 at 19:12 UTC »
She needs to step down
we_belong_dead on May 17th, 2023 at 19:11 UTC »
My grandmother and my father both had Alzheimer's before they died. You couldn't convince them to do a fucking thing because their brains were tapioca.
The only way she's leaving the Senate is either to be voted out or carried out.