{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/honolulu-star-advertiser-amid-cancer-fight-hironos-force-seems-to-grow", "Amid cancer fight, Hirono\u2019s force seems to grow", "2017-12-15", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Mazie Hirono", "H001042", "www.hirono.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Friday, December 15, 2017\n\t Amid cancer fight, Hironos force seems to grow \n\t\t\n\t\t\n  \n    By:\n    Lee Cataluna\n\n\n    \n    Honolulu Star-Advertiser\n    \n    \nMazie Hirono said her piece, turned away from the camera and\r\nI swear, icicles formed and broke in that D.C. hallway because she was so cold.\r\nA good kind of cold. A strong cold. An unflinching, target-nailing cold. You\r\ncould almost hear the frost crunching under her shoes as she walked away. Hirono was responding to Donald Trumps Twitter attack on\r\nSen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York this week, and to Gillibrands original\r\npoint: that the women who have accused Trump of sexual assault should be taken\r\nseriously. The only way to stop this president who has a narcissistic\r\nneed for attention  hes a misogynist and an admitted sexual predator and liar\r\n the only thing that will stop him from attacking us  because nobody is safe\r\n is his resignation, Hirono said. She wasnt yelling. She wasnt banging her\r\nfist or raising her voice. She was composed and her voice was even and that\r\nmade her statement all the more powerful. Do you remember way back a whole year ago when national news\r\norganizations were stubbing their toes and twisting their ankles to avoid the\r\nword lie when reporting on the President of the United States of America? It\r\nseemed blasphemous to use that word, even in the face of obvious lies, and so\r\nthere was a period of awkwardly phrased stories about untruths and\r\nfalsehoods and alternative facts before finally, in January, the New York\r\nTimes used the word lie in a headline on a story referring to Trumps claim\r\nabout winning the popular vote. Still, the Times felt it had to justify such a\r\nbold move and published an analysis piece about why, in this instance, that\r\nword was apt. But there was Mazie Hirono, just flat-out calling Trump a\r\nliar and worse. Chills, brah. Not only because of the words she chose that have so quickly\r\nlost their shock value, and not only because of the way she leveled her charges\r\nagainst Trump and her call for him to resign, but also because of who Mazie\r\nHirono is, how weve known her in the past and who she has become. Ive written about this before, about how Mazie Hirono\r\nrecently, even as she goes through cancer treatment, has shown a strength that\r\nwasnt readily apparent during her days as a state legislator or lieutenant\r\ngovernor or even Senate candidate. In June, she went through surgery and was\r\ntweeting from her hospital bed and back in Congress to cast a vote just days\r\nlater. Since then, though her cancer fight continues, her power seems to have\r\ngrown. She stood by her Senate buddy Al Franken until the weight of accusations\r\nagainst him tipped the scales, and then she changed course and said her good\r\nfriend had to resign. Hirono, out from under the thumb of Hawaiis old guard\r\nDemocratic puppeteers, has become something of a firebrand. An ice-cold\r\nfirebrand, if thats actually a thing. Shes someone who got better with age,\r\ngot stronger despite illness, became braver the more she became herself.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/honolulu-star-advertiser-amid-cancer-fight-hironos-force-seems-to-grow"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4378190971910954, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}