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Trump defends SC nominee after sexual assault allegation

September 19, 2018 10:57 IST

United States President Donald Trump has strongly defended his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and said that there is no need for the Federal Bureua of Investigation to investigate the allegations of sexual assault against him.

Kavanaugh's nomination plunged into chaos after Christine Blasey Ford told The Washington Post that she was subjected to a sexual assault by the Supreme Court nominee in high school in the early 1980s.

 

The Supreme Court nominee has rejected as "completely false" the sexual assault allegation, saying he was ready to testify before a Senate committee to "defend my integrity".

Trump, during a joint media appearance with the visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters: "I don't think the FBI really should be involved, because they don't want to be involved. If they wanted to be I would certainly do that, but as you know they say this is not really their thing. But I think politically speaking, the senators will do a very good job. They really will".

Responding to questions, Trump said he is looking to get the nomination of Kavanaugh done as quickly as possible.

"He is a truly outstanding person. He's got an unblemished record. This is a terrible thing that took place, and it's frankly a terrible thing that this information wasn't given to us a long time ago, months ago, when they got it.

"They could've done that, instead of waiting until everything was finished, and then all of a sudden spring it. But that's what the Democrats do. It's obstruction. It's resist. It's whatever you have to do," Trump alleged.

Kavanaugh, 53, has denied the allegation. The White House has said that it stands by Kavanaugh.

Trump said: "With all of that being said, it's a process that we all feel -- speaking for all of the Republicans, we feel that we want to go through this process, and we want to give everybody a chance to say what they have to say".

"We have time available, we will delay the process until it's finished out. I guess we've invited everybody. I could tell you this, that Judge Kavanaugh is anxious to do it. I don't know about the other party, but Judge Kavanaugh is very anxious to do it, and a delay is certainly acceptable," Trump said.

The president said that he wants to get to the bottom of everything.

"We want everybody to be able to speak up and to speak out. The fact is though this should have been done a long time ago, and when Senator (Dianne) Feinstein had Judge Kavanaugh in her office for a long time, she never even mentioned this.

"And that was a long time ago, never even mentioned it. So why would you bring this up when he is sitting in her office for a pretty extended period of time? So it's unfortunate. He is an incredible man. He is an incredible intellect. He will make an incredible Supreme Court Justice. But we feel that we want to go through a process. We want to hear both sides," Trump added.

Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate.

Lalit K Jha
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