House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' On The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline Trump signs largely symbolic pre-existing conditions order amid lawsuit MORE (D-Calif.) said Friday that President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE’s defense of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh amid allegations of sexual assault is designed to “break” the national women’s empowerment movement and discourage victims from coming forward in the future.

“There are women out there, including my own daughter, who think that what the president is trying to do is to break the 'Me Too' movement — to just say, ‘We don’t care what you have to say. We don’t want to know anything further. And so if you think you’re going to come forward, understand the odds that you’re up against,’” Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol.

Asked if she agrees with that assessment, Pelosi didn’t hesitate.

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“I do,” she said. “Because the lack of respect — of course, he has his own problems that he could be president of the United States with all of the disrespect that he has demonstrated against women, and now he’s appointing somebody like [Kavanaugh].”

Pelosi said Kavanaugh, who denied the allegations on Thursday in fiery testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, lacks both the “temperament” and the “dignity” to be a judge at any level.

“Judge Kavanaugh is doing an imitation of President Trump,” she said.

Kavanaugh’s nomination, once seen as a sure thing, has been rocked by accusations of sexual misconduct. One accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted at a high school party in the early 1980s, testified before the Judiciary panel on Thursday just prior to Kavanaugh.

Ford was adamant that an assault had taken place and Kavanaugh was behind it. Kavanaugh was just as firm in his denial.

Confirming Kavanaugh would mark a huge victory for Trump and GOP leaders, who are fighting to stave off a blue wave in November’s midterm elections.

Trump has been unwavering in his support for Kavanaugh as he attempts to seat the second Supreme Court justice of his tenure. After Thursday’s hearing, the president hailed Kavanaugh’s testimony as “powerful [and] honest,” while accusing Kavanaugh’s Democratic critics of conducting a witch hunt.

“Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist,” Trump tweeted. “The Senate must vote!”

Many Democrats see the Kavanaugh controversy as a political gift heading into November, especially in the Me Too era when female voters are already energized in their opposition to Trump.

Yet Pelosi rejected the political considerations on Friday, saying the focus of the Kavanaugh saga should be to ensure the public’s trust in the Supreme Court.

“If it benefits the Democrats politically, it’s a bonanza that we don’t want. … What we want is integrity in the Supreme Court,” Pelosi said. “Why can’t we have the appropriate vetting of a person who’s going to get a federal appointment?”

Pelosi cited a letter from the American Bar Association urging Senate leaders to postpone Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until after an FBI investigation into the allegations can be conducted — a process Senate Republicans have rejected out of hand.

She also took a shot at the 11 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee — all of them men — who have been largely supportive of Kavanaugh.

“Do they not have daughters? Do they not have wives? Do they not have sisters? Do they not have mothers?” Pelosi asked. “It’s a strange, strange group that when someone comes forward they mock the allegation and praise the assaulter.”

Pelosi did not commit to conducting an investigation of the Kavanaugh allegations if Democrats take the House next year. She said she’s hoping the nomination never gets that far.

“I’m ever-hopeful of an intervention — prayerful of a divine intervention,” she said.