Trump stands by ‘fantastic’ Kavanaugh as he seeks GOP votes

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday said the sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, which are slowing proceedings on his nomination to be the newest Supreme Court justice, could be one of the “single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything.”

The president said he continues to support Kavanaugh and dismissed the allegations about the judge’s conduct decades ago as “totally political.” Trump characterized the women making them as people coming “out of the woodwork.” His comments came during brief remarks in New York on Monday morning before his appearance at the United Nations.

Trump’s statements Monday echoed his remarks in a radio interview to be broadcast Monday morning, in which Trump acknowledged that he would most likely not be able to persuade any Democrats to vote for Kavanaugh, meaning that he would have to hold nearly every Republican to win confirmation in the narrowly divided Senate.

“We’ll get almost no Democrat,” he told Geraldo Rivera for the debut show of “Geraldo in Cleveland” on WTAM radio. “We may get a couple in states where I won by many, many points — you understand that — but we’ll essentially get no Democrat.”

Yet Trump suggested Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh were suspect because she never reported them to the authorities. “This went 36 years without a complaint.”

Blasey, 51, who also goes by her married name, Ford, has accused Kavanaugh, 53, of sexually assaulting her while he was