Trump Scolds Democrats for Playing ‘Con Game’ to Obstruct Kavanaugh Confirmation

President Donald Trump offered a scathing criticism of Democrats over their treatment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who is facing unsubstantiated last-minute allegations from two accusers.

“I think it is horrible what the Democrats have done. It is a con game, they are really con artists,” Trump told reporters after his speech at the United Nations in New York on Sept. 25.

The president also cast doubt on Kavanaugh’s accusers, calling their claims “totally unsubstantiated.”

“She was totally inebriated and all messed up, and she doesn’t know. It might have been him, or it might have been him. Gee, let’s not make him a Supreme Court judge,” Trump said, referencing the second accuser, Deborah Ramirez. “This is a con game being played by the Democrats.”

The first accuser, Christine Ford, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27.

All of the alleged witnesses named by both accusers have denied any memory of the supposed events. In Ford’s case, three witnesses provided written denials of the allegations to the committee under penalty of felony. Kavanaugh denied the allegations in person before the committee a day after The Wаshington Post published her account.

The president’s latest defense of his nominee to the nation’s highest court comes on the heels of a televised interview granted by Kavanaugh and his wife, Ashley, to Fox News.

In the segment, Kavanaugh said that he never sexually assaulted anyone and denied all allegations against him. The couple also shared about their duress in the face of the media frenzy and death threats.

“It’s very difficult to have these conversations with your children, which we’ve had to have,” Ashley Kavanaugh said.

Kavanaugh reaffirmed that the unsubstantiated allegations against him won’t deter him from continuing in the confirmation process. He refrained from commenting on the Democrats’ effort to derail his nomination.

“All I’m asking for is fairness and that I be heard in this process,” he added. “I have faith in God and faith in the American people,” Kavanaugh said.

Hours before Trump’s comments on Sept. 25, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders ramped up criticism of the last-minute accusations.

“I think the process that the Democrats have played has been absolutely appalling and disgusting,” Sanders told Fox News, adding that Ford wanted to keep the matter private before the Democrats leaked her letter to the press.

“They’ve waited until the last minute. They’ve made this a huge public circus and frankly hurt two different families’ lives that they'll never be able to be the same, because of the way that they have operated this process.”

Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, now-Justice Neil Gorsuch, filled the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a solid conservative. Kavanaugh, on the other hand, would, if confirmed, replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was seen as a swing vote on the court after he sided with the liberal side of the bench on some key cases.

The chaos surrounding the confirmation battle unfolds with less than two months left before the midterm elections in November, where Republicans are looking to hold on to majorities in the House and Senate. Confirming Kavanaugh before the elections would be a boon for Republicans, while a delay in the process past the midterms could make the road tougher for the nominee if the Democrats retake control of the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated on Sept. 24, that Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote is a hill he would be willing to die on, indicating that he will schedule a floor vote on the nomination after hearing from Kavanaugh and Ford on Sept. 27.

McConnell also excoriated the Democrats for a “disturbing pattern” of bringing forth accusations.

“It goes like this: Number one, our Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary Committee get wind of—or maybe even go looking for—a sensitive allegation. Second, they decline to share it with the majority, meaning the committee cannot promptly take appropriate action. And third, they allow the allegation to leak to the press at the last moment,” McConnell said.

“The American people know that sexual misconduct is gravely serious,” McConnell added. “But the American people also insist that vague, unsubstantiated, and uncorroborated allegations of 30-plus-year-old misconduct—where all the supposed witnesses either totally deny it or can’t confirm it—is nowhere near grounds to nullify someone’s career or destroy their good name. Justice matters. Evidence matters. The facts matter.”

The Judiciary Committee has hired a female attorney to conduct the questioning of Kavanaugh and Ford.

McConnell told reporters on Sept. 25 that he believes Kavanaugh will be confirmed.

“We’re going to be moving forward. I’m confident we’re going to win, confident that he‘ll be confirmed in the very near future,” McConnell, said. “I believe he’ll be confirmed, yes.”