President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would have “frankly preferred” it if Senate Republicans had pushed through Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court two weeks ago in order to avoid talk of his alleged sexual misconduct.

“They could have pushed it through two weeks ago and we wouldn’t be talking about this right now, which is what I would have preferred,” Trump said as he entered the United Nations.

Trump called Kavanaugh “an absolute gem” and argued he’d been “treated very unfairly by the Democrats.”

Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed, groping her and attempting to remove her clothing while they were both in high school. Deborah Ramirez has accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a college party and thrusting his penis in her face.

Trump has repeatedly defended Kavanaugh, accusing Democrats of playing a “con game” and pushing “false accusations.” He argued Ramirez “has nothing” because she acknowledged she’d been drinking when the alleged incident took place.

The Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination for Friday. If the procedural vote takes place, the full Senate could vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination early next week.