Brett Kavanaugh Digs In: “I’m Not Going Anywhere”

“The truth is, I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone,” he tells Fox News

Brett Kavanaugh during his interview with Fox News.Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh broke his silence on his sexual misconduct allegations in an interview with Fox News on Monday, calling them “false accusations.” 

The Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation hearings were thrown into chaos when a Palo Alto University professor, Christine Blasey Ford, accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a party when they were teenagers. On Sunday, another woman, Deborah Ramirez, came forward, telling The New Yorker that she believes Kavanaugh “thrust his penis” in her face during a drunken college party. 

“I’m not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process,” Kavanaugh said, appearing alongside his wife, Ashley. “We’re looking for a fair process where I can be heard defending my integrity, my lifelong record of promoting dignity and equality for women. I’m not going anywhere.” 

Kavanaugh repeatedly denied the allegations and dodged questions about whether the claims were politically motivated and whether someone should be judged for their actions as a teenager.

“The truth is, I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone,” he said, adding that he “did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school, and many years thereafter.” (The allegations against Kavanaugh do not involve intercourse.)

The nominee also said President Trump had personally called and said he would stand by him.

Both of the women alleging misconduct by Kavanaugh have called on the FBI to investigate. Ford is expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. 

This post has been updated.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate