Donald Trump has been taken to task by three key Republicans after openly mocking Dr Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which she claimed she had been sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh.
Republican senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska each condemned the remarks Trump made at a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night, when he cast doubt on Ford’s account.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember’,” Trump said, bringing cheers from his supporters. “How did 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.’ What neighbourhood was it? ‘I don’t know.’ Where’s the house? ‘I don’t know.’”
Speaking to NBC’s Today programme, senator Flake called the comments “appalling”, adding: “There’s no time and no place for remarks like that. To discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right. It’s just not right. I wish he hadn’t had done it.”
Senator Murkowski said it was “wholly inappropriate” and “unacceptable”, while senator Collins, a key moderate swing vote in the senate, said: “The president’s comments were just plain wrong.”
Kavanaugh has denied allegations that he sexually assaulted Ford when they were both high school students and has vowed to continue his effort to join the Supreme Court, to which Trump nominated him in July.
Trump’s mockery of Ford’s testimony came a week after he referred to her as a “very credible witness”, and risks losing the votes of Flake, Collins and Murkowski when the Senate votes on Kavanaugh’s appointment.
Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, and the loss of those three votes – provided every Democrat votes against Kavanaugh’s appointment, as is expected – could scuttle Trump’s pick and delay the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice until after the November midterm elections.
-
Washington grapples with ICE’s growing footprint — and futureTALKING POINTS The deadly provocations of federal officers in Minnesota have put ICE back in the national spotlight
-
‘One day fentanyl will come back — and there will be little anyone can do’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
15 years after Fukushima, is Japan right to restart its reactors?Today’s Big Question Balancing safety fears against energy needs
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Trump, Iran trade threats as protest deaths riseSpeed Read The death toll in Iran has surpassed 500
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
What do the people of Greenland want for their future?As Europe prevaricates over US threats for annexation there is a unifying feeling of self-determination among Greenlanders
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Venezuela ‘turning over’ oil to US, Trump saysSpeed Read This comes less than a week after Trump captured the country’s president
