Sen. Josh Hawley's (R-MO) attacks on a conservative career former FDA lawyer — who argued cases in both the Trump and Biden administrations — over her role in arguing for an abortion pill led her to quit.
And now, she's hitting back at the MAGA senator.
Hillary Perkins joined CNN's "The Lead" with host Jake Tapper to discuss comments posted on X by Hawley, who wrote last week: "I was so surprised by the @axios report today that Marty Makary was attempting to sneak a Biden abortion lawyer into top leadership at FDA that I had my team do some research. It turns out this Biden lawyer has argued FOR Biden’s outrageous pro-abortion rules in *many* cases."
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Perkins, who began at the Justice Department during President Donald Trump's first administration, told Tapper it was "shocking" to see Hawley's characterization of her as a "Biden abortion lawyer."
"I'm not a Biden abortion attorney, and to be clear, I have many friends that have different political views than me," she said, adding: "It's not accurate" to describe her as a Biden attorney.
"That was really the problem that I had," she continued. "He started going on these rants on X calling me a 'Biden abortion attorney' saying I was trying to argue in favor of the availability of the Mifepristone pill. And that's not at all true. I'm a conservative. I'm pro-life. I actually support President Trump, President Trump appointed me for this role as FDA chief counsel. It just was really shocking for him to start calling me that."
Perkins said Hawley seems to "misunderstand" what career Justice Department attorneys do.
"As a career lawyer, I was not in a policy-making role," she emphasized. "I was not making any of the policy. I was not setting or directing any policy. I was simply defending the administration's policies consistent with my oath as a career DOJ attorney. And that was the case even if I disagreed with the policy. That was my oath. I was required to do it."
Tapper noted that Hawley's wife argued for the other side and against the legality of Mifepristone.
"That seems to me like something that Sen. Hawley might've disclosed when he made this post," Tapper said. "What do you think?"
Perkins deferred to the senator — who didn't respond to CNN's request for comment — but she noted the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in favor of the pill's legality.
"So you beat his wife?" asked Tapper.
"Correct," Perkins replied, noting every pro-life justice agreed with her position among a group of justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
Perkins called it "shocking" that career civil servants are being attacked for doing their jobs and fulfilling their oaths.
"That is something we should be commending them for," she said.
Tapper said he feels sitting senators and congressman ought to express their concerns in a more appropriate way, as "opposed to just writing something on x."
"But it does seem to be we're in this period where U.S. senators think trolling people and acting like that is what they're supposed to be doing as opposed to being legislators."
Perkins said Hawley "should be happy that I was put into this position."
"He should want me in this position," she insisted. When she wanted to tell him who she was, "he refused."
"He's refused to meet with me," she said. "If we were to meet, we could clear the air because I think we do agree on a lot of things."
Watch the clip below or at this link.
