Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in a new statement Monday strongly denied a woman’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in high school, saying “this never happened.”
“This is a completely false allegation,” Kavanaugh said in the statement released by the White House. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone.”
He continued, “Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday. I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.”
Kavanaugh was responding to an allegation by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school in Maryland in the 1980s.
The accusation became public last week but Ford did not reveal her identity until Sunday in Washington Post story.
A senior White House aide meanwhile said Monday that Ford should be heard and should testify under oath.
“Absolutely,” Kellyanne Conway told reporters during a gaggle Monday morning when asked if Ford should testify. “She should not be insulted; she should not be ignored; she should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.”
Conway, counselor to the president, did not directly characterize President Trump’s thinking about Ford’s allegation. But she made clear that she was speaking on behalf of the president in expressing an openness to Ford testifying.
“Let me be very clear on behalf of the president with whom I’ve spoken at length about this,” Conway said. “She should not be ignored or insulted; she should be heard.”
The president has yet to weigh in directly since the allegation emerged publicly last week.
Conway said that in addition to Ford, Kavanaugh should get the chance to testify again in response to the allegations.
While the White House is supportive of the concept of additional testimony, Conway made clear that they will defer to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the best way to deal with the accusation, even as she also expressed a view that a vote on Kavanaugh should not be unduly delayed.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee has to decide how each of them will testify,” she said.
Conway also offered a general defense of Kavanaugh’s character, pointing out that he’s been through six prior FBI vetting processes and that ultimately members of the Senate will have to weigh the late-breaking allegations by Ford against a “considerable body of evidence” pointing to the strength of Kavanaugh’s character.
Ford, 51, a psychology professor in California, told the Post that the incident occurred in the 1980s when the 53-year-old Kavanaugh was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, and she was a 15-year-old sophomore at Holton-Arms School, an all-girls school in Bethesda, Maryland.
She said she believes the year was 1982 when Kavanaugh would have been 17.
Ford said she was at a teen house party when Kavanaugh and one of his male classmates — both “stumbling drunk” — cornered her in a bedroom and Kavanaugh pinned her on her back on a bed, the paper reported.
She said Kavanaugh’s friend watched as Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes and attempted to remove her clothes and the one-piece bathing suit she was wearing underneath, according to the story.
Ford told the Post that when she tried to scream, Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Ford said in the story. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”
She said she managed to escape when Kavanaugh’s friend jumped on top of them on the bed and sent all three of them tumbling, according to the Post.
