President Donald Trump addresses reporters outside the White House on Monday.Ron Sachs/ZUMA
President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed reports he is limiting an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But he emphasized a strong preference for the probe to be completed quickly because it’s been “unfair” to Kavanaugh and his family.
Trump also appeared to undermine Kavanaugh’s own statements rejecting claims that he abused alcohol in the past. The president said that during Thursday’s hearing before the Senate, Kavanaugh was open about his “difficulty” with alcohol and the fact he “drank a lot” as a young man. That’s likely news to Kavanaugh, who in his testimony Thursday vehemently denied having ever blacked out from alcohol. Questions regarding Kavanaugh’s drinking come amid concern he deliberately mischaracterized his drinking habits at last week’s hearing and as more of the judge’s former Yale classmates come forward to say he lied to lawmakers.
President Trump on watching Judge Kavanaugh testify:
“I watched a man saying that he did have difficulty as a young man with drink.” pic.twitter.com/XRXBDYsQBe
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) October 1, 2018
“I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer,” Trump said during an event at the White House to mark the revised free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. “At the same time, just so we all understand, this is our seventh investigation of a man who has really, you know, you look at his life until this happened, what a change he’s gone through, what his family has gone through.”
Trump continued, “With that being said, I’d like it to go quickly, and the reason I’d like it to go quickly is because it’s unfair to him at this point. What his wife is going through, what his beautiful children are going through, is not describable. It’s not describable. It’s not fair.”
In an extraordinary moment, Trump then implied he had knowledge of a Democratic senator who has also been “aggressive” and caught in compromising situations. “I happen to know some US senators, one who is on the other side who’s pretty aggressive,” he said. “I’ve seen that person in very, very bad situations, somewhat compromising.” Trump demurred when asked for a name, adding that he would “save it for a book like everybody else.”
The president commented on Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford only when asked by a reporter later in the press conference whether the process had been fair to her. Trump repeated his previous position that her allegations were dubious because she could not remember certain details regarding the alleged attack.
