Mitch McConnell says Senate Republicans were 'literally under assault' by 'trained' Kavanaugh demonstrators

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is once again following President Trump's lead — this time by questioning the motives and sincerity of anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators.

McConnell said Monday that over the past few weeks, Republicans have been "literally under assault" by protesters who were against Brett Kavanaugh being confirmed to the Supreme Court. While noting that "some" of these protesters were probably "well-meaning citizens," McConnell said that many of them were "obviously trained to get in our faces" and "almost attack us in the halls of the Capitol."

As they prepared to confirm Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, many Senate Republicans were confronted by demonstrators, some of whom said they were victims of sexual assault themselves. Two women, for instance, confronted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) in an elevator, only for Flake to unexpectedly call for an additional FBI background investigation into Kavanaugh hours later. As The Washington Post points out, there were no reported instances of demonstrators physically assaulting any senators, although one woman reportedly assaulted a man outside of the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

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While McConnell did not go quite as far as President Trump, who recently claimed that protesters were "paid professionals," McConnell maintained that there had been "full-scale effort" to "intimidate" Republicans. Watch his comments below. Brendan Morrow