Brett Kavanaugh: Trump defends judge amid new misconduct claims

Brett Kavanaugh at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, 27 September 2018Image copyright
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Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed a year ago

US President Donald Trump has angrily defended Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who is facing fresh allegations of sexual misconduct.

A former university classmate of Justice Kavanaugh’s has said he exposed himself at a student party and engaged in other inappropriate behaviour there.

Mr Trump condemned the media and opposition Democrats.

He suggested Justice Kavanaugh should sue for libel – or that the US justice department should “rescue” him.

Justice Kavanaugh denied sexual misconduct accusations that were made against him by two women during his confirmation to the Supreme Court a year ago.

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Media captionEmotional testimonies by Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh

Christine Blasey Ford testified before Congress that he had sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, while Deborah Ramirez told The New Yorker magazine that he had waved his penis in front of her face at a 1980s dormitory party.

The latest allegations were revealed in the New York Times.

They were made by Max Stier, who was at Yale University with Justice Kavanaugh and now runs a non-profit organisation in Washington DC.

Mr Stier said he had seen his former classmate “with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student”.

Democrats have called for the judge to be investigated.

Senator Amy Klobouchar, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was involved in a tetchy exchange with Justice Kavanaugh during his confirmation, described the process as a “sham”.

“I strongly opposed him based on his views on executive power, which will continue to haunt our country, as well as how he behaved, including the allegations that we are hearing more about today,” she told ABC.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz said the new allegation was a result of “the obsession with the far left with trying to smear Justice Kavanaugh by going 30 years back with anonymous sources”.

source: bbc.com