MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski on Tuesday said that the media needs to "step back" on their coverage of the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Brzezinski said that she was "disturbed" by the media's weekend coverage of Kavanaugh during an appearance on CNBC's "Power Lunch," saying it was not the media's job to take a side on whether Kavanaugh was innocent or guilty.
"Women have to be careful right now because what we do collectively in terms of how we absorb whatever is being alleged and how we portray that out—that's going to reflect back on us if we are jumping to conclusions," co-host Melissa Lee said.
Brzezinski agreed with Lee and said that women have worked hard to get to the point where women can use their voices.
"I am not taking sides in this. We should be reporting this. The media should step back a little bit. I was watching television all weekend and I was really disturbed. Brett Kavanaugh was either a rapist or these two women were liars," Brzezinski said. "That's just not our job. This is not our job. If we want women to have a chance to have their voices, let's not get in the way of that, but let's not also overcorrect to the point where we lose in the long run."
Brzezinski went on to say that she believes in due process and the "facts speaking for themselves."
Her criticism of the media and call for it to "step back" echoes "Morning Joe " co-host Joe Scarborough and show guest Mike Barnicle.
"This has not been the media’s finest hour," Barnicle said.
Scarborough went after liberal-leaning journalists, accusing them of already having their minds made up about Kavanaugh being a "rapist."
"Oh my God. We have been harshly critical of Fox News for being in the tank and being state television for Donald Trump," said the former GOP congressman. "What we’ve seen last week has made me want to call networks and put a ‘D’ in front of the name of the so-called journalists that have already decided that Brett Kavanaugh is a rapist."
Brzezinski chimed in, saying, "This three-hour block of time is a smear-free zone. There will be no convicting of either person on either side on this show."
"You will be kicked off this set because we are not doing that. It's just facts, and I've done it before," Brzezinski added.
Two women have waged sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh over the last two weeks.
Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer reported in The New Yorker Sunday that Deborah Ramirez accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself at a dorm party at Yale. In the piece, she is quoted talking about how Kavanaugh thrust his penis into her face at the party, causing her to inadvertently touch it as she pushed him away. Kavanaugh denied the accusation and called it a smear following the report's publication, and Monday he made a full statement in which he called it "obvious character assassination."
Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University in California, accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly pinning her to a bed, groping her, and trying to stifle her screams at a high school party in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, as has his former classmate Mark Judge, who Ford claims was also in the room at the time of the alleged incident. Two other people who Ford alleges were at the party in question have also denied any knowledge of the party or sexual assault.