A day after a new allegation of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh became public, President Trump told reporters that he believed the accusation was “totally political” and said, “I am with him all the way.”
Trump’s comments came after he made remarks at the United Nations on Monday morning. They followed those made by Kellyanne Conway on CBS This Morning, when she said that the allegations against Kavanaugh were “starting to feel like a vast left-wing conspiracy.”
On Sunday night, the New Yorker published a story that said Senate Democrats were investigating allegations that Kavanaugh exposed himself to a woman named Deborah Ramirez at a party in college. Ramirez, like Christine Blasey Ford, is calling for the FBI to investigate the allegation.
After the story was published, Kavanaugh denied the allegation, and the White House released a statement defending the nominee:
This 35-year-old, uncorroborated claim is the latest in a coordinated smear campaign by the Democrats designed to tear down a good man. This claim is denied by all who were said to be present and is wholly inconsistent with what many women and men who knew Judge Kavanaugh at the time in college say. The White House stands firmly behind Judge Kavanaugh.
After Sen. Dianne Feinstein called for a postponement of the confirmation proceedings, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he would “look into” the new allegations and asked for it to be referred to the FBI for investigation, according to CNN. But he and Kellyanne Conway did not say it appeared necessary to delay the proceedings. “They’ve made tremendous, unprecedented accommodations for Ms. Ford to testify Thursday,” Conway said.
Conway’s defense also included the argument that Kavanaugh was being punished for decades of other men’s misconduct:
Why does it not matter to anyone that Judge Kavanaugh has said unequivocally and categorically these allegations are false, he thinks the latest ones show a pattern of a smear campaign against him, and he has said from the beginning that he wasn’t at the party in question 36 years ago in Maryland? All that has to matter. … I just don’t think one man’s shoulders should bear decades of the #MeToo movement.
She added another seemingly new argument to come from the White House, as she cast doubt that Kavanaugh would have committed sexual abuse at a time when he was not “powerful.”
This may be the first time we’ve ever heard of allegations against someone as a teenager who did prey upon women thusly as he became powerful. As you know full well at CBS News, it’s when men become powerful and think they can use women and interrupt their careers if they want to for their own predatory proclivities that then they start preying upon women.
On Sunday, Ford confirmed that she will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
