Top Republicans on Capitol Hill ratcheted up their defense of embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Monday after a second woman accused the judge of sexual misconduct.
While the first accuser prompted the Senate Judiciary Committee to postpone a planned vote on Kavanaugh, top Republicans made it clear they would not allow the process to become derailed by a series of unfounded accusations.
“I want to be perfectly clear what is taking place,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during a searing speech on the Senate floor. “Senate Democrats and their allies are trying to destroy a man’s personal and professional life on the basis of decadesold allegations that are unsubstantiated and uncoordinated. That is where we are. This is what the so-called resistance has become. A smear campaign, pure and simple, aided and abetted by members of the United States Senate.”
McConnell vowed Kavanaugh’s nomination would receive a vote by the full Senate “in the near future.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a top member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged a swift vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination and denounced what he called a “smear campaign” orchestrated by Senate Democrats.
“Senate Democrats are demeaning both the Senate and the Supreme Court through their partisan games and transparent attempts at character assassination,” Hatch said in a statement. “We should hear from Dr. Ford on Thursday as planned. Then we should vote.”
Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford will face members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a high-stakes hearing Thursday. Ford says she feared Kavanaugh was about to rape her at a party in 1982.
But the GOP comments Monday made it clear they want to vote as soon as possible after that, and may be less willing to slow the process down for a second woman who accused him of sexual assault.
On Sunday night, the New Yorker reported that Deborah Ramirez is claiming that during a drunken party at Yale University in the 1983-1984 school year, Kavanaugh exposed himself, shoved his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it when she pushed him away from her.
Ramirez’s allegation has led some Senate Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, to call for the panel to postpone the upcoming hearing.
Kavanaugh has issued denials of both allegations, but in a fiery letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Monday, he offered a forceful denunciation of the accusations.
“I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process,” Kavanaugh wrote in the letter. “The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out. The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. The last-minute character assassination will not succeed.”
Kavanaugh continued to defend himself publicly in an interview with Fox News that aired Monday night.
“The truth is, I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or otherwise,” he said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he declared. “I’m not going to let these false accusations drive us out of this process.”
In addition to Senate Republicans, President Trump also made clear his intent to stand by Kavanaugh, who dismissed the allegations against his nominee as “totally political.”
“Judge Kavanaugh is an outstanding person, and I am with him all the way,” the president told reporters at the United Nations General Assembly.
He further questioned why Kavanaugh’s accusers would “come out of the woodwork” with accusations more than 30 years old.
Kavanaugh said he had no doubt that Trump would continue to defend him, revealing the president called him Monday afternoon.
“I know he’s going to stand by me,” Kavanaugh said.
