President Trump on Monday stuck with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh following a sexual assault allegation — calling him “one of the finest people that anybody has known.”
“He’s an outstanding intellect. An outstanding judge. Respected by everybody. Never even had a little blemish on his record. The FBI has I think gone through a process six times with him over the years where he went to higher and higher positions. He is somebody very special,” Trump gushed at a jobs event at the White House.
But the president also said he didn’t object to delaying the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on his nominee — because “I’d like everybody to be very happy” with Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“We want to go through a process. We want to make sure everything is perfect, everything is just right,” he said before lashing out at Democrats for not raising the issue earlier.
“If it takes a little delay, it will take a little delay. I wish the Democrats could have done this a lot sooner, because they had this information for many months. And they shouldn’t have waited ’til literally the last days. They should have done it a lot sooner. But with all of that being said, we want to go through the process,” he said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, only revealed the accusation last week, days before the panel was to vote, explaining that the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, at that time had not wanted to be identified.
“One thing I will say is that as I understand it, Judge Kavanaugh spent quite a bit of time with Senator Feinstein and it wasn’t even brought up at that meeting and she had this information,” the president said.
“I’m sure it will work out very well,” he added.
Asked if Kavanaugh offered to withdraw, he replied: “What a ridiculous question.”
Although the president appeared confident, much of Washington was scrambling Monday to assess Kavanaugh’s prospects after Ford revealed her identity to the Washington Post and described an encounter she believes was attempted rape.
Kavanaugh came to the White House amid the upheaval, but there was no immediate word on why or whether he had been summoned.
Ford sent her lawyer out to be clear on some key points.
“She believes that if it were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped,” Ford’s lawyer, Debra S. Katz, told NBC’s “Today.”
Further, Ford is willing to testify publicly, under oath, before the Judiciary Committee, Katz said.
Through the White House, Kavanaugh “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegation and suggested he too is willing to testify under oath.
With Post wires