President Donald Trump said on Monday that he wants to listen to all parties regarding the accusation of sexual assault levelled against Brett Kavanaugh, his nominee for the empty Supreme Court seat.
"We want to go through a full process. . . and hear everybody out, " Trump told reporters.
Trump also said that he was open to delaying the confirmation process in the Senate to analyze the case, saying "If it takes a little delay, it'll take a little delay, " Efe reported.
The president also said that he had not spoken with Kavanaugh despite the fact that the nominee was at the White House on Monday morning.
When asked, Trump called the question about whether he was planning to withdraw his nomination of Kavanaugh "ridiculous" and criticized Democratic lawmakers for having reported the case when they did.
He said that the judge "never even had a little blemish on his record, " adding that "I'm sure it will work out very well" and saying that "I wish the Democrats could have done this a lot sooner. "
Christine Blasey Ford is the woman who is accusing Kavanaugh of assaulting her.
In late July, Ford sent Democrats a letter in which she recounted her version of Kavanaugh's sexual assault of her at a party when they were both teenagers, asking lawmakers not to release her name.
Democratic legislators forwarded the letter to the FBI.
Although at first it was not specified what the letter contained, in recent days word has leaked out that it was linked to an abuse accusation and Ford ended up revealing her identity last weekend.
In light of the information, Democratics and three Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is evaluating Kavanaugh's nomination, have asked for a delay in the committee vote scheduled for this week in which lawmakers would decide whether or not to recommend the judge for the Supreme Court, but this is still up in the air.
According to Ford's account, the incident in question occurred 36 years ago, during the 1980s, when both she and Kavanaugh were minors: he being 17 and she 15.
Kavanaugh, who had gotten drunk at a house party, approached her, pushed her into a bedroom and tried to sexually assault her, pinning her to a bed, trying to remove her clothing, covering her mouth to silence her screams and raising the volume of the music to cover up any noise until she was finally able to escape him.
The appeals judge has categorically denied the accusation, adding that he is open to testifying, which Ford has also said she is willing to do.
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