Donald Trump defends Brett Kavanaugh following latest allegation of sexual misconduct
Kavanaugh denies the incident occurred, calling it ‘a smear, plain and simple’
US President Trump on Monday branded sexual assault allegations threatening to bring down his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “totally political”.
“There’s a chance that this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate but I am with Judge Kavanaugh,” Trump said after he arrived in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. “In my opinion, it’s totally political.
“Judge Kavanaugh is an outstanding person. I am with him all the way.”
A second allegation of sexual misconduct has emerged against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a development that has further imperilled his nomination to the Supreme Court, forced the White House and Senate Republicans onto the defensive and fuelled calls from Democrats to postpone further action on his confirmation.
The new accusation landed late on Sunday in a report from The New Yorker, just a few hours after negotiators had reached an agreement to hold an extraordinary public hearing Thursday for Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses him of sexually assaulting her at a party when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh denies the claim.
As the White House defends Kavanaugh against the claims, presidential counsellor Kellyanne Conway told CBS on Monday that the accusations against Kavanaugh sound like “a vast left-wing conspiracy,” using rhetoric that echoed Hillary Clinton’s 1998 description of allegations that her husband, President Bill Clinton, had had affairs.