REP. COLLINS: Loeffler’s Latest Stock Sell-Off ‘Is Essentially a Guilty Plea’

‘She’s less credible than the Chinese government…’

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Facing added pressure from both from colleagues and voters after an alleged insider-trading scandal, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., announced that she and her husband planned to cash out their individual stock holdings and invest, instead, in mutual funds.

But a spokesman for one of her top political rivals, Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said divesting now is tantamount to an admission of wrongdoing.

“This is essentially a guilty plea and Georgians who just saw their retirement plans crater while she profited are not going to agree to the plea deal,” he said. “She’s less credible than the Chinese government. Same advisors, different funds and no blind trust? We’re not buying it.”

Loeffler was a longtime executive at a Fortune 500 financial services firm prior to her recent Senate appointment.

Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, still works in the financial services industry—as CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange.

Their investments came under intense bipartisan scrutiny last month when financial disclosure reports showed that Loeffler and three other senators had made a series of stock sell-offs beginning Jan. 24. That was the same day health officials team briefed Senate committees about the potential pandemic threat of the Wuhan coronavirus.

From the emergency Senate briefing to when news reports first outed her stock sales, advisors acting on Loeffler’s behalf made 29 transactions and sold between $1,275,000 and $3,100,000 in stock.

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Kelly Loeffler / IMAGE: Fox Business via Youtube

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece published Wednesday, Loeffler maintained that she never used confidential information to profit from the stock market.

“In its hunger to place blame, the media fixated on a fantasy of improper congressional trading,” she wrote.

“… [A]ll we did was meet public-health leaders and ask them questions about the emerging virus,” she added.

Loeffler didn’t deny she profited from the sales, but offered that “third party advisors” had bought and sold the stocks on her behalf.

Amid the public uproar, she has agreed to cooperate with the Senate Ethics Committee, while still insisting that criticism of her stock trades is “ridiculous” and “baseless.”

Even so, the newly minted lawmaker is now fighting for her political life against Collins, a high-profile challenger from her own party.

In addition to a Democratic opponent, Loeffler will face Collins in a November special-election race, for which there was no party primary due to the unique circumstances.

Collins has been a prominent ally of President Donald Trump, including serving as his top defender against Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, during the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing last year.

He had lobbied for the appointment to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson, who retired late last year for health reasons. However, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp saw Loeffler as a safer bet to hold the seat—and also may have factored into account her extensive history as a GOP donor.

Democrats increasingly have regarded Georgia as a prize within reach, investing heavy amounts of outside money in far-left candidates like Stacey Abrahms and John Ossoff, whose victory would be a major coup in the conservative, Southern state.

But Loeffler’s deep pockets are now proving to be more liability than asset. According to Collins’ internal campaign polling, he currently has a significant lead over both Loeffler and the top Democratic contender.

Collins has not held back his criticism of Loeffler’s financial scandal since the pandemic caused the market to drop off sharply in March and forced significant business closures, leaving many to suffer the financial fallout.

Colo. Father Accused of Social-Distancing Breach, Arrested in Front of 6-Yr-Old Daughter

‘It is evident there was an overreach by our police officers…’

Colorado Father Arrested In Front of 6-Yr-Old Daughter For Playing T-Ball Outside
Matt Mooney / IMAGE: Fox 31 Denver via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A Colorado father was handcuffed and arrested in front o this wife and 6-year-old daughter for playing tee ball on Sunday afternoon.

Matt Mooney, 33, told KDVR-TV he was outside with his wife and daughter when three officers showed up and informed him he was violating the state’s social distancing guidelines.

Mooney reminded the officers that the official guidelines only prohibit social gatherings of 10 people or more. In fact, a sign at the park states the park is still open to “groups of no more than 4 persons … for walking, hiking, biking, running, and similar activities.”

But the officers demanded his identification anyways. When Mooney refused, they arrested him.

“She’s like, ‘Daddy, I don’t want you to get arrested,'” Mooney said of his daughter. “At this point I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way they’re going to arrest me, this is insane.’ I’m telling her, ‘Don’t worry, Daddy’s not going to get arrested. I’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t worry about it,’ and then they arrest me.”

Former Brighton City Councilman Kirby Wallin was able to record much of the incident, which reveals that Mooney, along with his wife and daughter, were the only people in the public park.

“He’s being taken by the Brighton police for playing softball with his daughter in an empty park,” Wallin says in the video, obtained by KDVR-TV.

Mooney told the station he spent about 10 minutes in the back of a patrol car before he was released. He also pointed out that none of the officers were practicing social distancing.

“During the contact, none of the officers had masks on, none of them had gloves on, and they’re in my face handcuffing me, they’re touching me,” Mooney said.

Wallin slammed the officers for making a stressful time even worse.

“I find it hard to believe with all the things going on in our communities, the only way to resolve a situation like this was to handcuff a father in front of his daughter,” he said.

The police department did later admit wrongdoing.

The Brighton Police Department is currently conducting an internal investigation into what led to officers detaining Mr. Mooney while responding to the complaint,” the department said in a statement to KDVR-TV.

“While the investigation sorts through the different versions of what took place by witnesses who were at the park, it is evident there was an overreach by our police officers,” said the statement.

State Dept. Refuses to Defend Hillary Against Court-Ordered Deposition

‘This is the rare situation in which discovery of a former Cabinet Secretary was not authorized for the impermissible purpose of probing internal government decision-making…’

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Hillary Clinton/IMAGE: PBS NewsHour via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) The State Department refused to back former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s attempt to dodge a judge-ordered deposition about her role in the 2012 Benghazi scandal and her misuse of a private email server.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled last month that the court must “hear directly from Secretary Clinton” since Clinton’s written answers to questions “were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best,” according to the Washington Examiner.

Clinton’s legal team responded with a petition for writ of mandamus, claiming Lamberth’s order is ridiculous and asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn it. Clinton’s team also asked the State Department to join its request to the appeals court, but the department refused.

“The government did not seek and thus does not support the extraordinary relief of mandamus due to the unique circumstances of this case,” Justice Department lawyer Mark Freeman told the appeals court.

Because of the nature of Clinton’s missteps throughout her time as secretary of State, the department does not want to stand in the way of a “discovery order,” Freeman explained.

While a matter strictly related to Clinton’s internal deliberations while overseeing the department would be protected, her potential violations of the Freedom of Information Act are not, he added.

“This is the rare situation in which discovery of a former Cabinet Secretary was not authorized for the impermissible purpose of probing internal government decision-making regarding official policy,” Freeman wrote in a seven-page filing, “but rather to focus on the impact on FOIA compliance of a former official’s unusual decision to use a private email server to systematically conduct large volumes of official business.”

Judicial Watch, a conservative non-profit watchdog, has been seeking a deposition for the past few years.

Clinton’s team dismissed the deposition as “inappropriate, unnecessary, and a clear abuse of discretion,” arguing that Judicial Watch “could not possibly show the extraordinary circumstances required to depose” Clinton.

Judicial Watch, however, argued that Clinton’s actions speak for themselves.

“The question … is whether Clinton purposefully routed the entire body of emails she sent and received during her four-year tenure at State, not just one email… [and] whether she did so to circumvent all FOIA requests concerning her emails,” Judicial Watch attorney Ramona Cotca said in a court filing last week.

“The reasons the District Court gave for its decision to authorize Clinton’s deposition—her state of mind when she decided to set up and use a private server, her awareness of her records management obligations, and her awareness of steps taken to prevent records managers and others from learning about her private server, among others—are directly related to answering these questions,” Cotca continued.

Doctors Across the Country Say Trump-Touted Drug Works Against Coronavirus

‘Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free…’

UPDATE: Police Say Aquarium Cleaner Hoax NOT Being Criminally Investigated
Hydroxychloroquine / IMAGE: CBS Evening News via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Doctors across the country are reporting that hydroxychloroquine, a commonly prescribed anti-malarial drug, is effective in treating patients during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump has touted the drug, already on the market and readily available,  as a potential “game changer” when paired with an antibiotic known as azithromycin.

The Food and Drug Administration recently issued an emergency authorization allowing doctors to prescribe them to COVID-19 patients.

The results have been significant, according to doctors who have followed Trump’s advice.

A Denver family physician who has worked in the area for nearly 50 years told CBS-4 that he prescribed a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to more than a dozen patients last week, and their symptoms immediately began to subside.

“They all did well. They seemed to reverse their symptoms in a day or two,” said Dr. Constantine Tsamasfyros, who added that he “absolutely” believes the drugs work against COVID-19.

When asked why he didn’t want to wait for additional testing before prescribing the medications, Tsamasfyros said that the anecdotal evidence was enough to convince him.

“If they’re drowning, you either pull them out of the water or at least throw them a rope to come out,” he said.

Dr. Marc Siegel similarly praised the drugs’ positive effects, telling Fox News he believes the medicine might have saved his father’s life.

Siegel’s 96-year-old father, who tested positive for the coronavirus, experienced a significant breakthrough after being prescribed hydroxychloroquine by his cardiologist.

“These preliminary steps are showing it decreases the severity [of COVID-19] early in the game,” Siegel said. “So if you’re a doctor and you take into account the side effects here—and there are some—you may decide it’s well worth it for some patients.”

A Democratic state representative in Michigan reported a similar breakthrough, and she, too, credited hydroxychloroquine. State Rep. Karen Whitsett said that two hours after taking the anti-malarial drugs, her symptoms began to disappear.

A Los Angeles doctor said that hydroxychloroquine tends to yield better results when paired with zinc in extreme COVID-19 cases.

“Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free,” Dr. Anthony Cardillo, the CEO of Mend Urgent Care, told ABC-7. “So clinically I am seeing a resolution.”

When paired with zinc, hydroxychloroquine opens a channel, which then allows zinc to enter the cell and block virus’s replication, Cardillo explained.

Doctors in France made similar remarks late last month in a study that found hydroxychloroquine shortened the duration of the virus by limiting its ability to spread within the body.

Indeed, 37% of the 6,000+ physicians surveyed in a recent international poll said that hydroxychloroquine was the “most effective therapy” for the coronavirus.

New York’s doctors are actively prescribing the anti-malarial drugs to COVID-19 patients, according to Peter Navarro, a member of Trump’s task force. At the same time, the state’s hospitals have reported fewer intensive care unit hospitalizations over the past few days.

“In the New York health and hospitals system, virtually every patient now that comes in presenting COVID-19 symptoms is given a cycle of hydroxychloroquine, and when I discussed this last night with Mitch Katz, who is the head of that system, I asked him, are you doing that because the federal government is telling you or because you think it may work? And he said quite clearly that it may work,” Navarro told CNN.

Navarro blasted CNN and the rest of the mainstream media for dismissing this anecdotal evidence as worthless.

“This is a situation where this drug could save lives,” he said.”We are at war here, and what we’re trying to do is make sure as few people die as possible.”

He puzzled over why the left-wing journalists and others, who have spent more time than anyone dwelling on the devastation, would be so adverse to finding an effective treatment.

“I look at a study just this latest one, I read it … and there’s a control group where 80% do well and only 50% don’t,” Navarro said. “I mean, you could be a plumber and read that and come to the same conclusion. I don’t know why you’re so hard about this? Would you take it if you got sick?”

UN Health Org. Denies ‘China-Centric’ Bias, Accuses Trump of ‘Politicizing’ Coronavirus

‘We will have many body bags in front of us if we don’t behave…’

Sen. Rick Scott Wants WHO Investigated for Parroting China's Coronavirus Lies
Xi Jinping / IMAGE: Sky News Australia via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) The World Health Organization claimed it has never favored China, pushing back on criticism from President Donald Trump, who said the organization was “very China centric” and threatened to slash its U.S. funding.

Bruce Aylward, who serves as senior adviser to the organization’s director-general, told reporters that the WHO focused on China during the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in order to learn more about the virus.

This focus on China “was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this,” Aylward told Reuters.

China, however, has not worked with the WHO, the U.S., or any other country. In fact, a U.S. intelligence report found that China’s communist regime has been regularly lying about its coronavirus death numbers and covering up the true extent of the virus’s spread.

That hasn’t stopped the WHO from repeating China’s reported numbers as fact, which is why Trump has called out the organization for aiding China’s misinformation campaign.

“The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday

“Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on,” he added. “Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”

WHO Director Tedros Ghebreyesus hit back at Trump and accused the president of putting more lives at risk by questioning the organization’s conclusions.

“If you don’t want many more body bags you refrain from politicizing it—please quarantine politicizing COVID,” Ghebreyesus told reporters, before urging the U.S. to “come together” with China to “fight this dangerous enemy.”

“They should come together to fight it and the rest of G-20 should come together to fight it, and the rest of the world should come together and fight it,” Ghebreyesus continued. “We will have many body bags in front of us if we don’t behave.”

Chicago Mayor Ignores Shelter Order to Get Haircut: ‘I Care About Personal Hygiene’

‘I need to make sure that I am out there and visible through this crisis…’

Hot Mic Picks Up Chicago Mayor Calling Police Official a ‘Clown’
Lori Lightfoot/IMAGE: YouTube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) After Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was criticized for violating her own shelter-in-place order to get a haircut, she defended the decision as necessary since she’s the “public face” of the city.

Illinois has ordered all non-essential businesses to close, including barber shops and hair salons, according to CBS-Chicago.

But that didn’t stop Lightfoot from getting a haircut, which she claims was “socially distanced,” despite the fact that she and the hairdresser were standing just inches apart, according to a photo uploaded to the hairdresser’s Facebook page (the post has since been removed).

“I am practicing social distancing,” Lightfoot claimed. “The woman who cut my hair had a mask and gloves on. So, I’m practicing what I’m preaching.”

But after initially denying that she had broken the statewide order, the mayor quickly dialed back her claim.

“We are trying to do everything we can to emphasize the messages around social distancing, washing your hands, staying at home,” she claimed. “But as [an] elected official and the public face of the city, I need to make sure that I am out there and visible through this crisis.”

Just weeks ago, Lightfoot scolded Chicago’s residents for continuing to partake in “non-essential activities.” In fact, in one of her public service announcements, Lightfoot said, “Getting your roots done is not essential,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

When asked why this rule was different for her, Lightfoot, who was “visibly annoyed,” responded: “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye. I’m a person who, I take my personal hygiene very seriously. As I said, I felt like I needed to have a haircut. I’m not able to do that myself, so I got a haircut.”

Chicago residents blasted Lightfoot for setting a “bad example for our city.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a fellow Democrat, said he couldn’t speak to why Lightfoot decided she needed a haircut, but he noted he hasn’t had a trim since he implemented Illinois’s shelter-in-place order.

“I’m going to turn into a hippie at some point,” he said.

Sens. Point Out Ridiculousness of UN Appointing Chinese Official to Human Rights Panel

‘Chinese government actions in the early days of the outbreak are not commensurate to influencing a council responsible for upholding human rights throughout the world…’

GOP Sens. Blast Appointment of Chinese Minister to U.N. Human Rights Counsel
Jiang Duan / IMAGE: Banque Cantonale de Genève via Youtube

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Texas GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are calling out the United Nations for an incredible act of Chinese favoritism.

The Chinese Communist Party blatantly lied about the Wuhan virus in its infancy, causing mass infections and deaths to spread around the world. Trillions of dollars in economic damage has ensued.

The Chinese government also engages in political persecutions, violent crackdowns on Christians, concentration camps for Uighur Muslims and many other undeniable human rights violations.

But the United Nations has appointed Jiang Duan, a Chinese government minister, to the U.N. Human Rights Counsel Consultation Group.

“In this position, Jiang will provide China with the opportunity to play a central role in picking at least 17 human rights investigators, including those who look at freedom of speech, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary detention, rights abuses which the Chinese regime routinely perpetrates,” wrote Cruz and Cornyn on Tuesday.

The Senators cited China’s “willful deceit and gross negligence” regarding the Wuhan virus and its many “terrible crimes against humanity” in a letter directly addressed to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

GOP Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Martha McSally of Arizona and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota also signed the letter.

The only thing more egregious than China’s atrocious behavior, they said, is “rewarding” it.

“Chinese government actions in the early days of the outbreak are not commensurate to influencing a council responsible for upholding human rights throughout the world,” the letter states.

“Even now, China withholds critical information about the spread and death toll of the virus and continues to silence and intimidate its critics,” it continues.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has separately called for an investigation of Chinese influence over the U.N. World Health Organization. President Donald Trump wants the WHO defunded.

The great irony, according to Cruz and Cornyn, is that the U.N. was created after World War II to prevent the type of human rights abuses China is committing.

Swamp-Draining Intelligence Chief Rich Grenell Nails Schiff for Leaking to the Press

‘His letter was sent to the press before it was sent to me…’

Swamp-Draining DNI Chief Rich Grenell Nails Adam Schiff for Leaking to the Press
Richard Grenell / IMAGE: NBC News via Youtube

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump recently tasked Rich Grenell, the acting-director of national intelligence, with rooting out leaks and corruption in the U.S. intelligence community

That has House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., sounding the alarm—and for good reason.

In a four-page letter, Schiff, a California Democrat, accused Grenell of undermining “critical intelligence functions” and “pursuing organizational and personnel changes … without consulting and seeking authorization from Congress.”

But in leveraging Democratic-friendly media, Schiff appears to have validated Grenell’s very mission.

“His letter was sent to the press before it was sent to me,” Grenell tweeted on Tuesday.

“These press leaks politicizing the intelligence community must stop,” he said.

As the nation’s top intelligence official, Grenell currently oversees the government’s 17 intelligence agencies and answers directly to the president.

Grenell’s actions recently led to the firing of Michael Atkinson, the intel community inspector general who retroactively changed whistleblower guidelines to allow hearsay allegations against Trump.

Atkinson’s arbitrary decision—possibly made in coordination with Schiff—led to the unprecedented, closed-door impeachment inquiry about a phone call Trump made to the president of Ukraine. The Democratic-controlled House then voted along party lines to impeach the president.

Atkinson is also tied to “Crossfire Hurricane,” the FBI counterintelligence operation led by Peter Strzok that targeted the Trump campaign and presidency over debunked Russian election collusion.

Grenell, a staunch Trump ally, was appointed in February as a temporary fix to the open DNI position. A permanent appointment requires congressional approval, and Democrats have successfully blocked prior Trump nominees.

In his letter, Schiff asserted that Grenell was acting improperly because he hasn’t been congressionally confirmed.

Schiff has also framed Atkinson’s firing as “another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the intelligence community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.”

But Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the ranking member on the House Intel Committee, disagrees.

Not only did Nunes refuse to sign Schiff’s letter, he previously threatened to refer Atkinson to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation. To date, Schiff has refused to release Atkinson’s impeachment testimony.

Trump Admin Welcoming Foreign Guest-Workers as Pandemic Peaks

‘Aside from the absurdity of bringing in any foreign guestworkers at all at the height of a global pandemic … this move has re-opened a security and fraud vulnerability…’

Amid Economic Crisis, Trump Admin is Expanding H-2B Unskilled Worker Program
Unskilled migrant laborers pick apples / IMAGE: Farm and Food Care via Youtube

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump is green-lighting a controversial foreign-worker program that prioritizes tens of thousands of foreign job-seekers at a time when millions of Americans are struggling amid the Wuhan virus shutdown.

According to the U.S. State Department, most applicants won’t even be interviewed prior to receiving a guest-worker visa.

But that’s a recipe for disaster, says the pro-legal immigration group Center for Immigration Studies.

“Aside from the absurdity of bringing in any foreign guestworkers at all at the height of a global pandemic that just threw millions of Americans out of work, this move has re-opened a security and fraud vulnerability in the temporary worker visa program that career homeland security officials have fought for years to close,” wrote Jessica Vaughan, CIS director of policy studies, in a new issue brief.

The seasonal guest-worker program, or the H-2 visa program, has more than doubled over the past decade, from 103,324 in 2010 to 280,183 in 2018.

Vaughan says the H-2 explosion is the result of government catering to special interests.

“Clearly the Department of Agriculture is pleased to deliver the cheap labor that U.S. growers have become accustomed to—rather than adopting farm modernization trends used successfully in the rest of the developed world,” she said.

And just as many Wuhan virus stay-at-home orders have effectively closed “non-essential” American businesses, the State Department has deemed H-2 workers “essential.”

“The H-2 program is essential to the economy and food security of the United States and is a national security priority. Therefore, we intend to continue processing H-2 cases as much as possible,” the State Department website says.

Allowing foreign workers to gain special-interest protections to take American jobs contradicts Trump’s outspoken immigration rhetoric. So does allowing them to enter the U.S. without security interviews or basic background checks.

In no way does the current H-2 policy enhance national security, says Vaughn. At a minimum it promotes fraud.

“Interviews are critical to preserving the integrity of our temporary visa programs—especially the guestworker programs,” she wrote. “Interviews are especially important given the chronic problems with fraud and abuse in these seasonal worker programs.”

Militant #MeToo Activist Alyssa Milano Flip-Flops over Biden Rape Accusation

‘#BelieveWomen does not mean everyone gets to accuse anyone of anything and that’s that…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Actress and #MeToo activist Alyssa Milano defended presidential candidate Joe Biden, whom she has endorsed, against an accusation of sexual assault, arguing he should be awarded due process.

“#BelieveWomen does not mean everyone gets to accuse anyone of anything and that’s that,” Milano said on Twitter. “It means that our societal mindset and default reaction shouldn’t be that women are lying.”

Milano cared very little about due process when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault without evidence.

The former sitcom star marched in protest against Kavanaugh’s confirmation in 2018, insisting that Christine Blasey Ford was telling the truth despite the fact that many of Ford’s “witnesses” contradicted her story, while rallying the rest of Hollywood behind her.

Yet she’s given very little attention to Biden’s accuser, Tara Reade, who actually does have credibility given her former position in Biden’s Senate office and Biden’s long history of “creepy” behavior, as actress Rose McGowan, another #MeToo activist, pointed out.

Instead of acknowledging the potential legitimacy of Tara Reade’s accusation, Milano dismissed it as an attempt to destroy an “innocent” man—a man Milano just so happens to politically support.

This isn’t the first time Milano has ignored accusations made against Biden. Multiple women have blasted Biden for being uncomfortably and inappropriately handsy, but Milano has insisted every time that Biden means no harm.

“I’m a very affectionate person, as well,” Milano said last year.

“I walked onto set a few weeks ago and I kissed my prop guy on the arm, and I had this moment of maybe that made him uncomfortable,” she continued “That would have never crossed my mind before #MeToo. So I think we all have to look at our interactions and proceed cautiously.”