President Trump today ignored the allegations made by yet another woman against his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, instead focusing on her attorney.
Trump called Michael Avenatti a “third rate lawyer” and a “total low-life” after the attorney revealed new sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh.
Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships – a total low-life!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2018
Avenatti earlier today released a declaration from Julie Swetnick who accused Kavanaugh of attending a party where she was drugged and raped.
Last Friday, Trump declared on Twitter that Kavanaugh’s first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, surely would have alerted the authorities if the incident was “as bad as she says.”
Yesterday, Trump said that Deborah Ramirez, who has said she was drinking during the alleged incident and that there are gaps in her memory, was “totally inebriated and all messed up” and dismissed her claims.
“I think Kavanaugh is just a wonderful human being,” Trump said. “I think it is horrible what the Democrats have done. It is a con game; they are real con artists.”
Trump repeated the “con” claim multiple times and grew angrier as he spoke. “Thirty-six years ago? Nobody ever knew about it? Nobody ever heard about it? And now a new charge comes up,” Trump said. “The Democrats are playing a con game, C-O-N, a con game,” he said. “It’s a shame.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a crucial Republican swing vote, offered a blunt warning of her own: Do not prejudge sexual assault allegations against the nominee.
“We are now in a place where it’s not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified,” Ms. Murkowski said in an extended interview on Monday night in the Capitol. “It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.”
With a 51-to-49 majority, Senate Republicans can afford to lose only one vote, assuming they get no Democrats. If Ms. Murkowski votes no, she could swing Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the other abortion-rights Republican in the Senate. But Republican leaders went ahead to schedule a committee vote for Friday, just a day after the hearing, a move that drew rebukes from Democrats who said the majority was not taking the allegations seriously.