As the Supreme Court nominee made a direct appeal for his confirmation, Trump pushed for him at a Minnesota rally.
President Donald Trump continued to push for Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation Thursday night and slammed Democrats for their treatment of his Supreme Court nominee, while Kavanaugh himself expressed some regret over his tone and emotional performance during his testimony last week.
“I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been,” Kavanaugh wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said.”
He continued: “I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife — and most of all my daughters.”
Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27 for a hearing on allegations of sexual assault made by professor Christine Blasey Ford, who testified earlier in the day. During a 45-minute opening statement, Kavanaugh blasted Senate Democrats, the media and even Bill and Hillary Clinton for how he has been treated.
“This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups,” Kavanaugh said during his testimony. “This is a circus.”
Repeatedly stopping to compose himself, Kavanaugh at multiple junctures was almost shouting during his statement. His tone grew even sharper later in the hearing as Democratic lawmakers queried him about his drinking habits and the meaning of certain phrases from his high school yearbook.
“Do you like beer, Senator, or not?” Kavanaugh snapped at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) at one point.
Democratic lawmakers and others criticized him for what they said was a lack of judicial temperament. On Thursday, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a lifelong Republican, said Kavanaugh’s performance “changed my mind,” and more than 2,400 law professors from across the country have signed an open letter, saying the tone of Kavanaugh’s testimony should be disqualifying.
On Thursday night, however, Trump backed his nominee and continued to attack Democrats for their actions during the process, while steering clear of mentioning Kavanaugh’s accusers, including Ford, whom he mocked earlier in the week.
“Democrats have been trying to destroy Judge Brett Kavanaugh since the very first second he was announced,” Trump told attendees at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, on Thursday night.
That was a significantly different approach than in Mississippi on Tuesday, when he made fun of Ford for not being able to recall some details about allegedly being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh during a party in the early 1980s.
Trump was in Minnesota to tout a number of Republican candidates running in the traditionally blue state, which has trended closer to Republicans in recent years. The president lost the state in 2016 by just 1.5 percent. Trump’s rally in Rochester comes as the open-seat 1st Congressional District is viewed by many as a potential and rare GOP pick-up opportunity in next month’s midterms. Democratic Rep. Tim Walz, who currently holds the seat, is running for governor, and Trump carried the district by 15 points in 2016.
The White House defended the president, saying he was just pointing out the facts, but a number of Republican lawmakers expressed dismay, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona, the final three Republicans who have yet to declare their positions on the Kavanaugh confirmation vote.
Good.. He made it, i would have voted for him myself, i believe he will be a very good and partial judge, also wish him the best….Just maybe these woman will stop coming out of the wood work, after so many years, and go on with life, its too short!
I think you said it best…He will be a PARTIAL JUDGE. Such a bag of guilty hot air.
It’s too bad for women who are really raped, this won’t help at all, if the truth were known she wasn’t assaulted AT ALL.
I am rejoicing that Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed. He has excellent integrity, credentials & judicial experience. He has shown himself to be honest, truthful & human when he expressed how horribly he had been victiminized & treated by Democrats. He honestly said, what we all would have expressed had the same unfairness, & vindictiveness been done to us. He was treated unfairly by Democrats. Democrats had a personal Agenda for themselves & for their political motives. The U.S. citizens need to wake up. We have a higher employment rate, higher wages, a better economy, an improved & better military then, we have had in 50 yrs. Wake up America. With illegals coming into the U.S Please note, they are given free health care, free food benefits, they receive food stamps, they are free from paying taxes. They get free schooling, Dental, Mental health services, hospitalization & so much more. We have elderly, & other Americans born here that are denied help for these services. Then, there are these same 66 yrs old illegals whom have never paid into Social Security & are given Social Security benefits because, they live here. In my opinion that’s so unfair to us natural born citizens that have paid into the system our entire working careers. It’s a disgrace that these things are happening. We have higher gangs, killings, & stealings happening among illegals. Send them home, give them the paper work to complete so they can come back into the U.S. legally. We need to make it be a felony for illegals to come into the U.S. illegally. It’s time to take a stand & support politicians that are working to improve the life’s of the American U.S citizens. Democrats agenda at this time seems to be to do everything in their power to deny & destroy the positive things trying to be be done by our Republican President Trump. We have a President that is working to Make America Great Again for the American people. I am a Senior citizen & I have not agreed with every President we have elected & I don’t agree with President Trump on everything either. I do see & believe Democrats have shown themselves to be poor losers & because, their candidate lost they are doing anything & everything possible to block the goals of President Trump. No U.S. President has been treated so UNFAIRLY & NEGATIVE. Democrats lost power so they aren’t happy & they are acting like SPOILED CHILDREN. I was a Democrat at a one time but, I want to puke with disgust that I was a member of this Democratic self serving party that now exists. Democrats wake up & smell the roses of the good things that are happening in our government & the U.S. & quit being whining babies as it doesn’t become U or the party. U are turning people from the Democratic Party & in this upcoming mid elections I am going to vote a straight Republican ticket which has never been something I have ever done. I am taking a stand the only way I know how to make my point to undeserving &vindictive Democrats.
How is it that all other people accused of these things are guilty and he isn’t . This government is corrupt. That’s why he has been put in as a Supreme Court justice. The Citizens of this country need to wake up! He looks like the ?
His regret comes too little, too late, Americans now know him for what he is,,,an entitled, arrogant, spoiled brat who thinks he should havesomething just because he wants it.
His outbursts revealed. He must have sold his soul to drumph and promised to keep Muller from finding the truth about drumph’s Russia connection, interference in our election, money laundering & “the tower mtg”