President Donald Trump attacked two of Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers – saying one has ‘very little credibility’ and pointed to Christine Blasey Ford’s failure to identify exact details of her sexual assault allegation.
After going after two of the accusers who helped to derail his Supreme Court choice, Trump went after the Democrats who interrogated him during a contentious Thursday hearing – claiming without offering evidence that one of them had been in ‘very bad situations’ and was ‘pretty aggressive.’
‘There are some questions that haven’t been answered – like what year was it? What day was it? Where was it? Do you know the location. Do you know the house? A lot of different things. People are saying: Well, you know, what’s going on?’ Trump said.
Trump declined to state specifically that the FBI, which is conducting a new background check on Kavanaugh following a Senate deal, should interview Julie Swetnick, who is being represented by Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti.
Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden that he has ‘heard that the third one has – I have no idea if this is true – has very little credibility. If there is any credibility, interview the third one.’
U.S. President Donald Trump went after two of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers, and said he an unnamed senator had been in a ‘somewhat compromising’ situation, without providing evidence
That was a reference to Swetnick, who claims Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present at a party where a ‘train’ of men engaged in rape. Avenatti has fashioned himself into a Trump nemesis through his representation of Daniels, who claims she had a 2006 affair with Trump and who got a $130,000 hush payment from longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
Trump alternated between calling Ford ‘the doctor’ and referring to her as ‘Dr. Ford.’
He said the Senate ‘certainly gave the doctor tremendous time, which is great. She spoke well,’ he said.
Discussing Democratic questioning of Judge Kavanaugh’s alleged heavy drinking in high school and college, Trump punched back at his interlocutors.
‘Now they talk about alcohol, they talk about all the things that you hear. And frankly, you take a look, they’re bringing up subjects, we would know about this over the last 20 years, 30 years of his career,’ Trump said.
In an angry Rose Garden press conference, Trump hit at the credibility of two Kavanaugh accusers
‘They’re going back to high school and they’re saying he drank a lot one evening in high school,’ Trump said, putting his own spin on questioning designed to elicit whether Kavanaugh was a blackout drinker.
‘You know, I’ll tell you what, I know some United States senators,’ Trump continued. ‘One on the other side who’s pretty aggressive. I’ve seen that person in very bad situations. Okay? I’ve seen that person in very, very bad situations – somewhat compromising. And you know, I think it’s very unfair to bring up things like this. However, whatever the senators want is okay with me,’ The president said.
But Trump, who does not drink, declined to provide evidence.
Pressed to explain his allegation, he said: ‘I think I’ll save it for a book like everybody else and I’ll write it.’
Trump said the Senate Judiciary Committee had been ‘very respectful to the doctor – Dr. Ford.’
Trump said he has ”heard that the third one has – I have no idea if this is true – has very little credibility.’ He was referring to federal government contractor Julie Swetnick
Trump said the Senate Judiciary Committee had been ‘very respectful to the doctor – Dr. Ford,’ in reference to Christine Blasey Ford
Trump did not appear to mention Deborah Ramirez, who alleges Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a Yale party in a college dorm
He said Christine Ford hasn’t said ‘what year’ and ‘what house’ Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her
Trump clashed with female reporters, including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who wanted to ask him about Kavanaugh instead of a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal that must be approved by Congress to take effect
The president was pressed repeatedly on whether the White House was keeping the FBI on a leash to prevent it from conducting a full investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh.
‘I think the FBI should interview anybody that they want, within reason,’ Trump said.
Then hd added: ‘But they should also be guided, and I’m being guided by what the senators are looking for.’
That was a reference to the guidelines provided by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He said FBI agents have been working ‘around the clock’ and working ‘late into the evenings’ to resolve the issue.
‘I’m instructing them as per what I feel the Senate wants,’ Trump said.
‘I did also say within the bounds of what the Senate wants. We don’t want to go on a to use an expression often used by me, we don’t want to go on a witch hunt do we?’ he said, using his favorite pejorative for the Russia probe.
The president also attacked three Judiciary Democrats by name: Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Dianne Feinstein of Callifornia. ‘They’re no angels,’ he said.
‘Look at some of these people asking the questions, okay?
‘Even if you were going to bring up some of the subjects that were brought up, they didn’t have to treat him so viciously and so violently as they’ve treated him,’ Trump said
At the end of a contentious hour-long appearance, Trump fumed: ‘I think he’s been treated horribly. Even if you were going to bring up some of the subjects that were brought up, they didn’t have to treat him so viciously and so violently as they’ve treated him.’
Trump didn’t say reports of Kavanaugh’s drinking should be off-limits, but said the nominee had been candid about his youthful drinking. Some Democrats are charging the nominee wasn’t truthful in some of his testimony, such as saying his membership in the ‘Beach Week Ralph Club’ was due to his weak stomach.
‘I was surprised about how vocal he was about the fat that he likes beer,’ said Trump, who doesn’t drink.
‘This is not a man that said that he was perfect with respect to alcohol,’ said Trump, who found the testimony ‘excellent.’
But he hit at Democrats, who zeroed in during questioning on inquiries about whether Kavanaugh drank heavily around the time of the alleged attacks, including whether he had ever blacked out due to drinking.
‘Nobody asked him about the last 25-30 years,’ Trump said, during Kavanaugh’s legal and judicial career.
President Donald Trump unloaded on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a rant filled with four-letter words before a delay that brought Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump blew up in a phone call with the Senate leader who is trying to guide the imperiled nomination through confirmation – and who held open another court seat and helped design the strategy that put Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
The president blew up in a call from his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course, telling McConnell he had ‘let the process get away from him, the New York Times reported.
Under pressure from Democrats and a few Republicans, the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a planned hearing so that it could take testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who told senators Kavnaugh tried to rape her at a small party in 1982.
Trump – who publicly said senators were free to make their own decisions – also complained about the stunning decision to hold off on a floor vote for a week.
That happened under pressure Friday afternoon, when Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake agreed with Democrats to let the FBI do additional background checking. He voted along with other Republicans to move Kavanaugh through committee, but said he wouldn’t accept a floor vote sooner than that.
Trump later complained that Republicans and his own White House counsel, Don McGahn, made a mistake by not holding a Senate floor vote on Friday. According to the report, Trump said wavering senators should have been forced to vote against Kavanaugh and suffer the consequences.
The president blew up in a call from his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course, telling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell he had ‘let the process get away from him,’ the New York Times reported
President Trump blew up in a phone call with the Senate leader who is trying to guide the imperiled nomination through confirmation
Kavanaugh’s path to confirmation has been hindered by a series of delays
Senate Judiciary Committee member Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) (C) speaks with colleagues after a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 28, 2018, on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
The Senate did vote to proceed to the nomination by unanimous consent on Friday, but McConnell, who met with fellow Republicans Friday afternoon, doesn’t intend to bring up the nomination while key potential supporters are not ready.
Two other GOP centrists, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, said they supported the delay, so a full vote could have brought down the nomination unless they caved to pressure.
Amid reports the FBI is speeding to complete its background check on a limited basis, it is possible the process will strengthen the GOP’s hand by appearing to undercut a central Democratic argument: that allegations of assault against Kavanaugh have not been properly probed.
On Friday afternoon, Trump sounded much more laissez-faire about how the process should go.
‘I’m going to let the Senate handle that. They’ll make their decisions,’ the president said, minutes after bombshell developments inside the committee room.
‘They have to do what they think is right. There is no message whatsoever. They have to do what they think is right. They have to be comfortable with themselves, and I’m sure that’s what they want,’ Trump added publicly in the Oval Office.
The FBI’s jump-started background investigation into Kavanaugh is already causing a political rift.
Trump tweeted that it would be up to the FBI to determine the parameters of its probe.
“They have free rein to do whatever they have to do,’ Trump tweeted.
However, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway told CNN the background investigation would be ‘limited in scope.’
Trump said Monday: ‘I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer.’
‘I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation, whatever that means according to the Senators, the Republicans and the Republican majority,’ Trump said.
‘I want it to be comprehensive,’ he said.
‘Now that being said, I’d like it to go quickly,’ Trump added, noting that Kavanaugh had gone through six prior background investigations – although they did not include the assault allegations.
The Senate Judiciary panel limited the probe to recent ‘credible’ allegations. Attorney Michael Avenatti immediately fumed that his client, Julie Swetnick, who came forward with an allegation that Kavanaugh was present at a party where she was gang raped.
The specialist prosecutor brought in to question Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh during the senate hearing last week says ‘no reasonable prosecutor’ would bring charges based on the evidence heard.
Ford’s inability to remember corroborating details, inconsistencies in her memory and a lack of witnesses means the case amounts to a ‘he said, she said’ account, prosecutor Rachel Mitchell said.
She notes that Ford’s case is ‘even weaker’ than a typical ‘he said, she said’ case because the only three witnesses she was able to name have no memory of the event.
‘I do not think a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee,’ Mitchell wrote in a letter to Senators.
Most criminal cases have to be proven ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’, but sex crime victims sometimes pursue their cases through civil court in the form of a lawsuit because it carries a lower ‘on preponderance of the evidence’ standard.
Mitchell argued that Ford’s case would not meet this threshold either.
However, Senate Republicans cut off her questioning of Kavanaugh partway through the hearing, using their allotted time instead to question Kavanaugh themselves and make speeches.