President Trump weighed in again on the assault allegations against his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before heading to North Carolina on Wednesday.
While continuing to defend his nominee, Trump also indicated that he wanted to hear from Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
“I think he’s an extraordinary man. I think he’s a man of great intellect, as I’ve been telling you, and he had this unblemished record,” Trump said. “This is a very tough thing for him and his family. And we want to get it over with.”
At the same time, Trump suggested that he would like to hear Ford’s account, saying, “I really want to see her. I really would want to see what she has to say.”
"I really want to see her," Pres. Trump says of Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. "I really would want to see what she has to say. I want to give it all the time they need. They've already given it time. They've delayed a major hearing." https://t.co/VgIPiTh5Fe pic.twitter.com/Hh4aFwUKAI
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 19, 2018
Referring to Ford’s possible appearance in front of the Senate next week, Trump added, “if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that’ll be very interesting, and we’ll have to make a decision.”
Ford has said that she would not appear before the Senate Judicial Committee without an FBI investigation. But Trump appeared reluctant to answer whether he would direct the FBI to further investigate the incident, saying, “well, it would seem the FBI doesn’t really do that.” Instead he suggested faith in the Senate to do its job. “They’ve given it a lot of time, they will continue to give it a lot of time, and really, it’s up to the Senate.”
Despite Trump’s apparent openness to hearing Ford’s account of the event, he made it clear that he was standing by his nominee. “But I can only say this: he is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine anything happened,” he told reporters.