President Donald Trump is holding firm to his Supreme Court nominee a day after a new allegation of sexual misconduct surfaced, telling reporters Monday that he is "with him all the way."
The president acknowledged the precarious situation in the Senate, where chances for Kavanaugh's confirmation are now uncertain after weeks of appearing all but guaranteed.
"There is a chance this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything," Trump said. "But I am with Judge Kavanaugh and I look forward to a vote."
The confirmation vote was roiled last week after Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist in California, came forward alleging that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while the two were in high school in the early 1980s.
Trump had gone on the attack against Ford last week, writing in a post on Twitter on Friday that if Ford's accusation was "as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed." On Monday, Trump said the new allegation was "totally political" and he was committed to pursuing the matter to a vote.
On Sunday, The New Yorker published an allegation from a former Yale University classmate, Deborah Ramirez, who said that Kavanaugh had drunkenly exposed himself to her at a college party decades ago, and caused her to touch his penis without her consent. A separate classmate, who was not named by the magazine, said that he was "one-hundred-per-cent sure" that he was told at the time that Kavanaugh exposed himself to Ramirez.
Kavanaugh has categorically denied all of the allegations against him. In a statement to The New Yorker, Kavanaugh called Ramirez's accusation a "smear, plain and simple."
In a statement, six of Kavanaugh's former classmates wrote that "the behavior [Ramirez] describes would be completely out of character for Brett." Two of the classmates who wrote the statement are alleged to have been involved in the incident; a third is the wife of a male classmate alleged to have been involved.
Kavanaugh is expected to testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee as is Ford.
"I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name—and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building—against these last-minute allegations," Kavanaugh said in a statement.
The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, called Sunday night for Thursday's hearing — as well as "any further proceedings related to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh" — to be postponed.
In a letter to the committee's chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Feinstein requested that "you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford as well as these new claims."