President Donald Trump apologized to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh “on behalf of our nation” at his swearing-in ceremony at the White House on Monday evening, falsely claiming Kavanaugh had been “proven innocent” of the numerous allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against him.

“On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure,” says Pres. Trump at the judge’s ceremonial swearing-in Monday.https://t.co/FqNqrdNnH8 pic.twitter.com/cbNebd7R8b — CBS News (@CBSNews) October 8, 2018

Trump also apologized to the family of Kavanaugh, the 114th U.S. high court justice, for “the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure.”


The president did not mention Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who remains unable to return home with her family as she continues to receive “unending” death threats.

Trump, following up his baseless allegations earlier on Monday that Dr. Ford’s accusations were “a hoax set up by the Democrats,” then commented on what he said was Kavanaugh’s failure to receive due process, even though he was interviewing for a job and not on trial:

“What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency, and due process. Our country, a man or a woman, must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. And with that I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny were proven innocent.”

“What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency, and due process. In our country, a man or a woman, must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” –@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/kn0H5lgpEm — GOP (@GOP) October 9, 2018

Of course, this is not what happened.

Senate Republicans decided to “plow right through” with Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite several credible allegations of sexual assault or misconduct against him. After Dr. Ford testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about her accusation that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her in high school, the White House approved a “supplemental background investigation” that was widely considered to be a farce, since its scope was limited by Republicans. The FBI didn’t interview Ford, Kavanaugh, or dozens of other people of possible interest.


Trump’s remarks about “due process” were applauded by Justice Clarence Thomas, per The Hill’s Jordan Fabian. Thomas remains on the nation’s top court 27 years after he was accused of repeated sexual harassment by Anita Hill. With Kavanaugh’s confirmation, nearly a quarter of the Supreme Court’s justices have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

Diana Ofosu/ThinkProgress

Trump himself has been credibly accused of sexual assault and harassment by over a dozen women.

Following Trump’s introduction, Kavanaugh noted that “a majority of (his) law clerks were women” and vowed to “be an independent and impartial justice.” During his angry opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the numerous accusations against him, Kavanaugh warned “what goes around comes around.”