Trump celebrates Kavanaugh win, blasts Democrats
President blames ‘left-wing mob’ for controversy over pick
Topeka, Kan. — President Donald Trump celebrated the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court at a rally in Kansas on Saturday, condemning Democrats for what he called a “shameless campaign of political and personal destruction” against Kavanaugh.
To cheers of supporters at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Trump declared it an “historic night,” not long after signing the paperwork to make Kavanaugh’s status official.
“I stand before you today on the heels of a tremendous victory for our nation,” he said to roars.
Kavanaugh was sworn in as a justice Saturday evening in Washington after an extraordinarily fraught nomination that sparked angry protests, nail-biting votes and a national reckoning about sexual assault allegations and who should be believed after Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct when he was a high school and college student.
He denied the allegations, but nearly all Senate Democrats voted against his confirmation.
Trump invited reporters traveling with him to watch the vote in his private office aboard Air Force One, then delivered a thumbs up from his desk as the confirmation was made official.
“Very, very good,” Trump said. “Very happy about it. Great decision. I very much appreciate those 50 great votes and I think he’s going to go down as a totally brilliant Supreme Court justice for many years.”
Trump, throughout the day, insisted Kavanaugh would not be tainted by the sexual assault allegations from Christine Blasey Ford and others that nearly tanked his nomination, declaring he was “100 percent” certain his nominee was innocent.
“I have no doubt,” Trump said, telling reporters that he had chosen Kavanaugh, in part, because “there’s nobody with a squeaky-clean past like Brett Kavanaugh because he is an outstanding person and I’m very honored to have chosen him.”
He said Kavanaugh had withstood a “horrible, horrible attack” that “nobody should have to go through.”
Trump continued lashing out at Democrats when he rallied supporters in Topeka, telling them the opposition party conducted a “shameless campaign of political and personal destruction” against Kavanaugh.
He said “radical Democrats” have become “an angry, left-wing mob” and “too dangerous and too extreme to govern.” And he urged Kansas voters to send Republicans to Congress.
Asked by reporters aboard Air Force One what message he had for women across the country who feel the nomination sends a message that their allegations of sexual assault aren’t believed, Trump disagreed with the premise, saying women “were outraged at what happened to Brett Kavanaugh” and “were in many ways stronger than the men in his favor.”