Kavanaugh tells GOP senator he didn’t attend party of alleged incident 

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Monday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denies attending an early 1980s party at the center of a sexual assault allegation against him.

Hatch told reporters that Kavanaugh denied being at the party during a phone call the two men had on Monday afternoon. Hatch added that he believed Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is “mixed up.”

{mosads}“The judge, who I know very, very well [and] is an honest man said this didn’t happen,” Hatch said, adding that there is “some question” about if Ford was “mixed up.”

Ford told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh, while intoxicated at a party in high school, pinned her down and groped her, attempting to remove her clothing. Kavanaugh has denied wrongdoing.

Hatch was asked if there was a possibility that Kavanaugh was so drunk that he did not remember being at the party. The senator dismissed the question.

“He said that’s not true. … He said this did not happen and he’s naturally very upset about it,” Hatch told reporters.

A Hatch spokesman later clarified that Hatch was “paraphrasing” Kavanaugh’s responses in his comments and Kavanaugh did not necessarily refer to a specific party.

“Hatch was paraphrasing, never quoting, and a more accurate representation of Kavanaugh’s words was that he was not at any party like the one she describes,” Matt Whitlock said on Twitter.

Hatch was paraphrasing, never quoting, and a more accurate representation of Kavanaugh’s words was that he was not at any party like the one she describes.

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 17, 2018

-Updated Sept. 18 at 4:11 p.m.