There was uproar over the confirmation hearing on Sept. 4 for President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court — Brett Kavanaugh, 53, — and not just because of his political ideologies. Out of shocked outrage, images and videos of a woman sitting behind the Supreme Court nominee today have gone viral. The woman under Twitter fire is Zina Bash, 36, who many accused of flashing an alleged symbol of white power on television for forming her fingers in what appears to be the “OK” sign. But the Anti-Defamation League reported in 2017 that the gesture is not a racist symbol, blaming the website 4chan for the “latest hoax.” Still, many aren’t backing off the conspiracy theory. So who exactly is the woman that’s now trending on Twitter?
1. She has close ties to Brett Kavanaugh. She’s not a random audience member. Zina was actually a former law clerk for the judge, and is now working on his confirmation team, The National Law Journal reported. That explains why she was sitting so close to him!
2. She also worked for President Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz. Zina was a “Special Assistant” to Trump for “regulatory reform, legal and immigration policy,” according to a press release in July of 2018 for her appointment as senior counsel on the executive leadership team for the Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton. Before that, she was the “deputy director of policy and communications” for Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, the press release also reported.
3. She has impressive career and education credits. A bachelor’s degree and a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard University, combined with an MBA in accounting from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, really paved the way for Zina’s career. Aside from all the high positions mentioned above, she’s worked at the international law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as an appellate attorney, served as vice president of operations and business development at Edinburg’s Doctor’s Hospital at Renaissance, and was senior counsel on U.S. Senator John Cornyn’s Judiciary Committee, the press release from Ken Paxton’s website also reported.
4. Her husband defended her on Twitter. Zina was actually born in Mexico, one of the reasons her husband and US Attorney John Bash used to defend her on Twitter today. Besides calling the attacks against his wife “repulsive,” he also tweeted, “Zina is Mexican on her mother’s side and Jewish on her father’s side. She was born in Mexico. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. We of course have nothing to do with hate groups, which aim to terrorize and demean other people — never have and never would.” She is also bilingual, according to her profile on The Hill.
5. She was named Capitol Hill’s “50 Most Beautiful.” Zina has been recognized not just for her extensive career track in law, but for her good looks! The Hill put her on its “50 Most Beautiful” 2017 list of people in Washington D.C.’s Capitol Hill.