Kavanaugh’s demeanor and language during his testimony were widely criticized by Democrats as unbefitting of a potential Supreme Court justice—and considered potentially disqualifying on their own. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday at The Atlantic Festival that Kavanaugh’s remarks revealed a political bias against the left, and that “he should recuse himself from many cases that will come before the Court.”

I know Brett Kavanaugh, but I wouldn’t confirm him.

Even the Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who helped initiate an FBI investigation into the allegations last week, called the judge’s interactions with lawmakers “sharp and partisan.” “We can’t have that on the Court,” he said at the festival Tuesday, without elaborating further.

Clinton, in her first public comments on Kavanaugh’s testimony, joined the ranks of those critics.

“For anyone who believes there’s such a thing as judicial temperament and that we want judges, particularly those on our highest court, to approach issues, approach plaintiffs and defendants with a sense of fairness … there’s a lot to be concerned about,” Clinton said. “There is such a thing that you seek in judges of a judicious temperament … people who are able to discipline themselves, to be open to the evidence wherever it might lead … This was quite unusual, what we saw the other day.”

Kavanaugh’s claims echoed Clinton’s own comments from 1998 that a “vast right-wing conspiracy” was trying to bring down her husband’s administration. Coincidentally, Kavanaugh was part of the independent counsel Ken Starr’s team investigating Bill Clinton at the time she said that.

Kavanaugh’s implication, that Clinton may have been involved in a plot to thwart his confirmation, appeared to amuse her. “Boy, I tell you, they give us [Clintons] a lot of credit,” she told Goldberg with a chuckle. “It would’ve had to have happened starting 36 years ago, and that seems a stretch even for the vast right-wing conspiracy stories about me.”

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.