Dozens of women came to the defense of Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Friday, attesting to his character in light of the allegations of sexual assault leveled against him by a California professor.
The group of more than 75 women took to a stage in a ballroom at a Washington, D.C., hotel in a public show of support for Kavanaugh and argued the allegation conflicts with their own experiences with the Supreme Court nominee.
“We know the man, we know his heart and we have known him over every aspect of his life,” said Sara Fagen, a longtime friend who worked with Kavanaugh in the White House for former President George W. Bush. “The charge leveled against him is inconsistent with every single thing we know about him.”
Of the women who attended to show their backing for Kavanaugh, donning #IStandWithBrett stickers, six spoke of their relationships with him, which ranged from having dated him in college to having served as his law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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Kavanaugh has served as a federal judge in D.C. since 2006.
“The acts of which Brett is accused represent a stark departure from the behavior my friends and I have witnesses in more than four decades,” said Meghan McCaleb, who has known Kavanaugh since high school.
McCaleb described Kavanaugh as a “gentleman of the highest caliber who always treated women with decency and respect.”
“He stood out as the most responsible guy who always treated us with kindness and respect,” she said.
Kavanaugh dated McCaleb’s sister and several of her friends, she said.
President Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July, and he appeared to be cruising toward confirmation.
But his contentious confirmation fight was further roiled last week after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she referred a matter involving Kavanaugh and an unidentified woman to federal authorities.
On Sunday, Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor, came forward in an interview with The Washington Post detailing an incident involving Kavanaugh from the early 1980s.
Ford said that in 1982 during a party at a house in Montgomery County, Md., Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her to a bed, groped her and tried to take off her clothing.
Kavanaugh has categorically denied the allegation.
Since Ford came forward, the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a hearing, during which Kavanaugh and Ford were invited to testify.
Kavanaugh accepted the invitation, but Ford’s lawyers said a hearing Monday is “not possible.”
The lawyers instead suggested during a call with staff from the Senate Judiciary Committee for the hearing to occur Thursday, according to reports.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has not yet said how it intends to proceed.
