Trump goes on offensive against Kavanaugh accuser

President questions credibility of woman who alleged sexual assault

WASHINGTON— After holding his tongue for a week, President Donald Trump sarcastically assailed the woman claiming a decades-old sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, tweeting that if the episode was “as bad as she says,” she or “her loving parents” surely would have reported it to law enforcement.

Trump’s searing reproach of Christine Blasey Ford on Friday defied the Senate Republican strategy — and the advice of White House aides — of not disparaging her while firmly defending his nominee and the tight timetable for confirmation. The comment came as the California psychology professor’s attorneys sought agreement from Republicans on terms under which she might testify at a judiciary committee hearing next week. That showdown, should it occur, could play out on national television and settle whether Kavanaugh’s nomination survives.

The president’s tweet brought blistering rejoinders from Democrats and a mix of silence and sighs of regret from his own party. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine called the remark “appalling.”

It was also the latest provocation — from a man who’s faced a litany of sexual misconduct allegations himself — of moderate female voters whose support Republicans will need to fend off a robust Democratic drive to capture congressional control in November’s midterm elections. Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation from his teenage years. Ford, 51, says an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed during a high school party in the 1980s, muffled her screams and tried undressing her before she escaped.

Minutes after Trump’s tweet on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell played verbal hardball of his own, drawing a standing ovation when he assured a gathering of evangelical activists that the conservative Kavanaugh would soon be a justice.

Republicans have pressured Ford to testify at a hearing this Monday, a session at which Kavanaugh has already said he’d appear. In bargaining that continued Friday, her attorneys conditionally offered an appearance for Thursday, saying Monday wasn’t possible.