President Donald Trump for the first time directly mocked Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by casting doubt on her testimony during a campaign rally.
Before the crowd Tuesday night in Southaven, Mississippi, Trump imitated Ford during her testimony, mocking her for not knowing the answers to questions such as how she had gotten to the high school party where she says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.
“I had one beer. Well, do you think it was — nope, it was one beer,” Trump said, mimicking Ford’s testimony last week to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know.”
Trump’s comments were met with laughter and applause from the crowd.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” the President continued. “What neighborhood was it in? I don’t know. Where’s the house? I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs — where was it? I don’t know — but I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.”
Trump’s mocking remarks come amid a protracted and heated confirmation process for Kavanaugh. The FBI is conducting a supplemental background investigation into the nominee after he and Ford testified Thursday before the Judiciary Committee about her allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh vehemently denies the accusation.
Trump had previously been conciliatory toward Ford, calling her a “good witness” earlier on Tuesday and on Monday saying he respected her position very much.
“With all of that you cannot say that we’ve done anything but be respectful, and I do. I respect her position very much. I respect her position very much,” Trump said to reporters on Monday.
The President said Tuesday night that Kavanaugh’s “life is in tatters. A man’s life is shattered. His wife is shattered, his daughters. … ”
During the 2016 campaign, at least 15 women accused Trump of misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment and sexual assault to lewd behavior around women. They came forward in the wake of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape that was released in October 2016, in which he is caught saying on a hot mic: “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.”
The White House — through press secretary Sarah Sanders and others — has dismissed all the allegations against him as old news that had been litigated during the campaign.
Trump, while making his case that Kavanaugh deserves a spot on the Supreme Court, told the rally crowd in Mississippi, “I don’t even know him. I met him for the first time a few weeks ago. I don’t even know him. So it’s not like, ‘Oh, gee, I want to protect my friend.’ ”
He called Democrats who are against Kavanaugh “evil people” who want to “destroy people.”
He reiterated his earlier claims Tuesday that nowadays you are “guilty until proven innocent,” and stepped up his line of argument that men are under attack in America, without mentioning survivors of sexual assault.
“Think of your son. Think of your husband,” Trump told the rally, noting he has had “many false allegations” against him.
He launched into a hypothetical riff about a young man who got a job at IBM or General Motors but is falsely accused of sexual assault. “What do I do, Mom? What do I do, Mom?” Trump said, role-playing a conversation between a son and mother.
“It’s a damn sad situation, OK? And we better start as a country getting smart and getting tough.”
