President Trump said late Saturday that he mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, because he needed to “even the playing field.”
Trump discussed Kavanaugh’s confirmation during an on-air call with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro after his rally in Kansas.
Pirro said that Trump was “disciplined” after Ford’s allegations came out and asked him why he decided to mock her during a rally last Tuesday.
{mosads}“You went off script and some people said you were extremely unkind to Christine Ford,” Pirro said.
“But what was it that got you to pivot from your restraint about her and to fight for Kavanaugh at that point?” she asked.
“Well, there were a lot of things happening that weren’t correct, they weren’t true and there were a lot of things that were left unsaid,” Trump responded. “And I thought I had to even the playing field. It was very unfair to the judge, and now I can very nicely say Justice Kavanaugh. It was a very unfair situation.”
“So I evened the playing field,” the president said, adding that things “started to sail through” after he spoke out against Ford.
Trump attacked Ford, the first of three women to publicly accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, in front of a crowd in Mississippi.
He mocked her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee late last month, prompting the audience to applaud and laugh.
“How did you get home?” Trump said. ” ‘I don’t remember.’ How’d you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember.’ How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know.’ “
“What neighborhood was it in?” he continued, as the crowd cheered and clapped. ” ‘I don’t know.’ Where’s the house? ‘I don’t know.’ Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? ‘I don’t know, but I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.’ “
Trump’s statements were a sharp departure from his earlier comments, when he referred to Ford’s testimony as “very compelling.”
Kavanaugh was confirmed and sworn in as a Supreme Court justice on Saturday.