WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local):
5:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump says the numerous accusations of sexual assault that have been made against him over the years affect the way he views allegations against other men, including his Supreme Court pick.
Trump says at a New York news conference that he views such accusations “differently” because he’s “had a lot of false charges made against me.”
Here are his own words: “It’s happened to me many times.”
Trump says he’d been accused — falsely — by “four or five women” who “got paid a lot of money” to made those charges.
More than a dozen women came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign, claiming they were assaulted, groped or kissed without consent by Trump. There’s no evidence most were paid.
Also during the campaign, a videotape from 2005 was released on which Trump was heard boasting of grabbing women by their genitals and kissing them without permission.
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5:45 p.m.
The Republican staff for the Senate Judiciary Committee is requesting an immediate interview with the third woman who’s accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
GOP committee aides have emailed a letter to the woman’s attorney, Michael Avenatti. They say they want to know immediately whether Julie Swetnick would agree to be interviewed by phone later Wednesday.
That would be just hours before the committee’s scheduled hearing Thursday where Kavanaugh and initial accuser Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford are set to testify.
She has claimed he sexually assaulted her at a high school party in the early 1980s.
Kavanaugh has denied allegations from three women of sexual misconduct.
The committee staffers write that this is the sixth email they’ve sent Avenatti since he tweeted Sunday that he had an unnamed client with accusations against Kavanaugh.
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5:35 p.m.
Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford says in prepared testimony to a Senate committee that she believes Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a party when they were teenagers.
Kavanaugh has said he never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any other time in his life, and he says he didn’t even attend the party where Ford says she was assaulted.
Ford says in testimony for Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that she was “terrified” to go public with her story. She says it’s her “civic duty” to tell the senators what happened.
Ford says she doesn’t have the answers to all the questions she know will be asked about that night and says she doesn’t remember everything. But she said the details have “haunted” her into adulthood.
5:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he’s open to changing his mind on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — if the evidence at Thursday’s Senate committee hearing is compelling.
Trump says at a news conference in New York that he’ll watch the testimony from Kavanaugh and a woman who’s accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
The president was asked about whether he might be persuaded to withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination. Trump said: “If I thought he was guilty of something like this ... yeah, sure.”
Trump is calling Kavanaugh was “one of the highest quality people” he’s ever met. The president insists the accusations are false and he’s accusing Democrats of playing politics.
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4:35 p.m.
Some of Brett Kavanaugh’s high school friends are pushing back against the latest accusation of sexual misconduct against the Supreme Court nominee.
The friends have written the Senate Judiciary Committee and said they’ve “never witnessed any behavior that even approaches what is described in this allegation.”
Julie Swetnick has provided a sworn declaration to the committee that says she witnessed Kavanaugh “consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.” Her lawyer posted the declaration on Twitter.
The 64 Kavanaugh friends from the all-male Georgetown Prep and some sister high schools who signed the letter say they don’t remember ever meeting Swetnick and they say “these shameful attacks must end.”
Kavanaugh has denied the new charges.
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4:30 p.m.
A Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says he needs to hear Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before determining whether her sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is credible.
When John Kennedy of Louisiana was asked what criteria he’ll use, he said: “That’s like asking me to explain the Holy Spirit.”
Kennedy says credibility can sometimes by judged by body language, by sincerity or by corroborating evidence.
He’ll be among the senators with a chance to question Ford on Thursday.
She’s scheduled to testify about her accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party decades ago.
Kavanaugh, who denies that accusation, is scheduled to testify after Ford is finished.
The 21 senators on the committee will each have five minutes to ask the witnesses questions.
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3:30 p.m.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee say they want to speak to the latest woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana says the committee will be extending an invitation to Julie Swetnick to provide a sworn statement, and South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham says he wants the committee to talk to her “today.”
Swetnick — in a sworn statement Wednesday — is accusing Kavanaugh of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women, among other things. The Associated Press hasn’t been able to corroborate the claims and continues to investigate.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and calls them “ridiculous.” He says he didn’t know Swetnick.
The committee chairman, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, says in a tweet that committee investigators are tracking down all allegations against Kavanaugh, talking to witnesses and gathering evidence.
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3 p.m.
Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford have provided the Senate Judiciary Committee with the results of a polygraph test on her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens.
The documents indicate the Ford took the test on Aug. 7 at a Hilton Hotel in Maryland.
Ford has told The Washington Post she hired a former FBI agent to conduct the test as she considered whether to come forward with her accusation, and she’s said she passed it.
The newly released documents seem to support her claim, but there’s no independent expert verification.
She says Kavanaugh held her down, tried to remove her clothes and covered her mouth at a drunken high school party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegation and says he’s never assaulted anyone.
In addition to the polygraph, Ford’s lawyers have given the Senate committee four affidavits from people who say Ford told them about the assault.
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2:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump says what’s happening to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is a “disgrace” that will be reflected in the November election.
Trump blames Senate Democrats and is suggesting that how they handled sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh will help Republicans at the polls. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.
Republicans are fighting to maintain their grip on both houses of Congress in the face of strong enthusiasm by Democratic voters who oppose Trump and his policies.
Here’s how Trump is assessing the Kavanaugh confirmation process: “It’s disgraceful. It’s a disgrace to the country. And I think you’re going to see it in the midterms.”
Trump also says “these Democratic senators” are a “disgrace.”
He adds that the “good news is the public is very smart and they get it.”
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2:20 p.m.
A high school friend of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is denying a woman’s allegation of sexual misconduct.
Mark Judge is the friend, and his lawyer, Biz Van Gelder, says her client vehemently denies the new allegations.
In a sworn statement, Julie Swetnick has accused Judge and Kavanaugh of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women, among other things.
The Associated Press hasn’t been able to corroborate the claims, and continues to investigate.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and calls them “ridiculous.” He says he didn’t know Swetnick and “this never happened.”
Swetnick’s lawyer says he expects to release additional information in “the coming weeks.”
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2 p.m.
A Republican senator says his family has received death threats since he asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Kavanaugh denies the allegation.
Jeff Flake of Arizona is warning other senators that they have “lit a match” with the “unseemly” confirmation process.
Flake is a key Republican who has yet to announce how he will vote on Kavanaugh.
After he pressed for Thursday’s committee hearing with Ford, Flake said a caller told him to quit getting in the way of President Donald Trump’s court choice. Flake says the caller warned he would take Flake and his family “out.”
Republicans are pushing to confirm Kavanaugh by next week.
Flake says the only certainty about the vote is that the outcome “will forever be steeped in doubt.”
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1:50 p.m.
A Democratic senator is suing to block the Senate from voting on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Jeff Merkley of Oregon contends the Trump administration has interfered with the Senate’s ability to provide advice and consent by withholding documents from Kavanaugh’s tenure working in White House under President George W. Bush.
Merkley wants a federal judge in the nation’s capital to intervene and prevent the confirmation vote until Kavanaugh’s full record is available for public scrutiny. The Senate could vote early next week.
The Trump administration cited executive privilege in withholding about 100,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s time as legal counsel. The administration, saying that disclosure of deliberations and advice would jeopardize a president’s ability to carry out their core constitutional duties.
The Senate could vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation early next week.
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1:35 p.m.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is urging Brett Kavanaugh to withdraw as a nominee for the Supreme Court because of the sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Schumer has spoken in the Senate after a third woman publicly accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegation, saying it’s from the “Twilight Zone.”
Schumer says there are multiple credible misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. The New York senator says that if President Donald Trump won’t withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination, Trump should at least order the FBI to investigate the claims.
The Senate Judiciary Committee says it’s reviewing the new allegations being provided a statement from the new accuser.
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1:25 p.m.
The lawyer for a woman making new allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh isn’t providing any additional details.
Michael Avenatti says he and his client would like to see an FBI investigation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee says it’s reviewing new allegations after Avenatti provided a statement from his client to the committee.
According to a document Avenatti posted on Twitter, the woman alleges she witnessed Kavanaugh “consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.”
The woman also made other accusations in her statement. The Associated Press hasn’t been able to corroborate them, and continues to investigate.
Avenatti says they expect to release information in “the coming weeks.”
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1 p.m.
President Donald Trump is firing back at Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who’s representing a third woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
Trump tweets that Avenatti “is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations.”
Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who says she had sex with Trump years before Trump became president.
The lawyer, tweeting back, calls Trump a “habitual liar and complete narcissist” who’s “an embarrassment to our nation.”
Trump claims Avenatti “is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!”
Avenatti’s client alleges in a document that Avenatti posted on Twitter that she witnessed Kavanaugh “engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.”
Kavanaugh denies the allegation.
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12:42 p.m.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is denying new allegations of sexual misconduct, saying they’re from the “Twilight Zone.”
In a statement Wednesday, Kavanaugh said: “This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday it is reviewing new allegations after attorney Michael Avenatti provided a statement from his client to the committee.
According to a document Avenatti posted on Twitter, the woman alleges she witnessed Kavanaugh “consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.”
The woman also made other accusations in her statement. The AP has not been able to corroborate them, and continues to investigate.
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12:20 p.m.
In testimony for Thursday’s Senate hearing, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh acknowledges drinking in high school with his friends, but says he’s never done anything “remotely resembling” the sexual misconduct alleged by his chief accuser.
Kavanaugh denies having a “sexual or physical encounter of any kind” with Christine Blasey Ford, who will also appear at Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
“I am innocent of this charge,” Kavanaugh says.
In written testimony released Wednesday by the committee, Kavanaugh says he has “never sexually assaulted anyone —not in high school, not in college, not ever.”
Ford and Kavanaugh are to testify Thursday about her allegations that Kavanaugh held her down, tried to remove her clothes and covered her mouth at a drunken high school party in the 1980s.
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11:45 a.m.
The Senate Judiciary Committee says it is reviewing new allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Attorney Michael Avenatti provided a statement from his client to the committee.
According to a document Avenatti posted on Twitter, the woman alleges she witnessed Kavanaugh “consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.”
The woman also made other accusations in her statement. The AP has not been able to corroborate them, and continues to investigate.
Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual misconduct by two other women, putting his nomination for the high court at risk. He and one of the accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, will testify publicly Thursday before the Judiciary Committee.
Avenatti declined to expand on the allegation in an interview Wednesday on ABC’s “The View,” saying he would not add detail beyond what was in the statement. Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who alleges she was paid to keep a sexual relationship with President Donald Trump quiet.
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11:40 a.m.
Brett Kavanaugh’s lawyers have submitted his calendars from the summer of 1982 to the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of their defense against a woman’s accusation that he sexually assaulted her at a party.
The green-and-white calendars show detailed notes of Kavanaugh’s plans that summer, including homework, days that he was “grounded,” parties and “beach week” in all capital letters from June 5 to June 11. On June 12, penciled in is his plan to spend the night in Rehoboth, a beach about three hours from Washington.
Also noted are basketball camp and plans to see the movies “Rocky III” and “Poltergeist.”
At the end of August, Kavanaugh plans college interviews, including one for his application to Yale on August 27. He ended up attending that Ivy League School.
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9:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump says he would have preferred a faster confirmation process for his Supreme Court nominee.
Speaking to reporters at the United Nations Wednesday, Trump says Senate Republicans “could not be nicer” in their treatment of the woman who claims Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school.
Said Trump: “They could have pushed it through two and a half weeks ago and you wouldn’t be talking about it right now, which is frankly what I would have preferred.”
Senate Republicans are bringing in a veteran Arizona prosecutor to handle questioning about the allegations. Asked about the move, Trump said the lawmakers “could not be nicer” and “could not be more respectful.”
Trump said he was “ok with that,” but again defended Kavanaugh as a “gem.”
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9 a.m.
An attorney for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says there is no dispute that he drank in high school and college.
Lawyer Beth Wilkinson tells CNN Wednesday that whether or not Kavanaugh drank isn’t the issue. Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual misconduct by two women; one from high school and one from college. He’s denied those allegations.
Kavanaugh said in an interview earlier this week with Fox News that he went to an all-boys Catholic high school where he focused on academics, and athletics. He said he went to church on Sundays and worked on service projects.
But former classmates have disputed that image, saying he was a partier and heavy drinker at times.
Wilkinson said Wednesday: “If this is going to be the standard for how we judge somebody going into public service, I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would want to go through something like this.”
Kavanaugh will testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. So will his chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who said he sexually assaulted her in high school.
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8:05 a.m.
Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say they have submitted sworn affidavits to the Senate Judiciary Committee from four people who say she told them that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had assaulted her in high school.
Kavanaugh has denied the accusation.
The four sworn affidavits are among the information the committee is considering on the eve of Ford and Kavanaugh’s testimony Thursday.
All four documents say that Ford revealed the information well before President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the high court in July. They come from Ford’s husband and three family friends, who say Ford mentioned the incident in 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017.
Two affidavits, from Ford’s husband Russell Ford and from the coach of their son’s baseball team, say Ford named Kavanaugh as the alleged assailant. In the other two, Ford did not name Kavanaugh but said she was assaulted by a federal judge.
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8 a.m.
The attorney for one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct says the Senate Judiciary Committee has not invited her to tell her story. John Clune, who is representing Deborah Ramirez, says the committee is “refusing even to talk to us.”
Clune says that Republicans did not participate in a pre-arranged Tuesday night conference call to talk about Ramirez’ allegations. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the “only way to get at the truth of what happened” is to interview his client. He said she’d be willing to testify before the committee if asked, but he wasn’t sure whether she would do it without an FBI investigation first.
There was no immediate response by the committee to the AP’s request for comment.
Ramirez told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while they were both students at Yale. She has acknowledged consuming alcohol at the time, which clouded some of her memories.
The Senate panel is scheduled to hear from Kavanaugh’s chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, on Thursday. She says he assaulted her at a party in high school in the 1980s.
Kavanaugh denies both allegations.