Trump reacts
President tweets approval of Kavanaugh.
WASHINGTON — Glued to high-stakes testimony on his Supreme Court nominee, President Donald Trump and his allies were shaken by Christine Blasey Ford’s emotional appearance on Capitol Hill Thursday but heartened by Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s pushback against his accuser.
Trump missed hardly a moment of the proceedings, relying on DVRs to keep up on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday from his private office on Air Force One as he traveled from New York to Washington, and he continued monitoring back at the White House.
Within moments of the eight-hour proceedings concluding, Trump tweeted his approval of Kavanaugh’s performance and called on the Senate to move swiftly to a vote. “His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting,” Trump said. “Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!”
At a GOP fundraiser at his Washington hotel later Thursday, Trump described the hearing as “brutal” and “hard to watch” but praised Kavanaugh’s performance. He described Kavanaugh as a “great guy” and a “great man,” according to an attendee who spoke on condition of anonymity
Ford’s tearful recounting of allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school led Trump to express sympathy for Kavanaugh and his family for having to listen to the testimony, according to two Republicans close to the White House but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
After seeing Ford’s powerful testimony, White House aides and allies expressed concern that Kavanaugh would have an uphill climb to deliver a strong enough showing to match hers.
White House officials believed Kavanaugh’s passionate denials of Ford’s claims, including the judge’s tearful description of the impact the accusations had on his family, met the challenge. A White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly said the West Wing saw the judge’s opening statement as “game changing” and said Trump appeared to be reacting positively.
Signaling the continued White House support for Kavanaugh, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted praise for Sen. Lindsay Graham after the South Carolina Republican railed against Democrats, accusing them of treating Kavanaugh “despicably.” Sanders tweeted that Graham “has more decency and courage than every Democrat member of the committee combined. God bless him.”
Trump’s son, Donald Jr., also tweeted his review: “I love Kavanaugh’s tone. It’s nice to see a conservative man fight for his honor and his family against a 35 year old claim with ZERO evidence and lots of holes that amounts to nothing more than a political hit job by the Dems.”