The White House spokeswoman for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation team on Tuesday said that there was never a discussion to drop the nominee after the confirmation process was upended by sexual misconduct allegations.
“There wasn’t. We were a hundred percent with Judge Kavanaugh, and I think at a certain point it became bigger than Judge Kavanaugh,” Kerri Kupec told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball on “Rising.”
“It hit fundamental notions of fairness for this country, innocent until proven guilty. And so that’s when you saw people really rallying, and coming to his defense,” she continued.
Kavanaugh took part in a ceremonial swearing-in process at the White House on Monday, in which President Trump took the opportunity to apologize for his turbulent confirmation process.
“What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency and due process,” Trump said. “In our country, a man or woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”
Kavanaugh’s first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, a week before his confirmation. She detailed her accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party in 1982 when they were both in high school.
The nominee forcefully denied the allegations in a separate hearing before the panel. He has also denied the allegations made by two other accusers.
Kupec told Hill.TV that she believed “something” had happened to Ford at some point, but that there was no corroborating evidence in the FBI investigation to prove Kavanaugh assaulted her.
“He [Kavanaugh] was being tried in the court of public opinion in a very unfair way, and certainly with the statements that were being submitted to the FBI, the sworn statements, and the investigation that they did, I think Sen. [Chuck] Grassley [R-Iowa] said it in a statement that there was not even a hint of misconduct,” she said.
— Julia Manchester
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