Brett Kavanaugh’s refusal to step aside — backed by President Donald Trump and key Senate Republicans — sets up a blockbuster hearing that will determine whether the appeals court judge can be elevated to the nation’s highest court. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO kavanaugh confirmation Kavanaugh tells Senate he won't withdraw Trump and Republicans are rallying to save the Supreme Court nominee amid new accusations.

A defiant Brett Kavanaugh told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday afternoon that he “will not be intimidated into withdrawing” his nomination to the Supreme Court amid sexual misconduct allegations.

A short while later, in a highly unusual public relations blitz for a nominee, he said in a pre-recorded interview with Fox News that “I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone, in high school or otherwise.”


“I’m not going anywhere,” he told anchor Martha MacCallum, sitting alongside his wife in a carefully choreographed appearance that belied the frantic intraparty race to rescue the president's pick for the high court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also vowed to move forward with Kavanaugh’s nomination, despite the immense controversy swirling around the federal appeals court judge.

“I want to make it perfectly clear,” McConnell declared on Monday, “Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor, up or down, on the Senate floor. This fine nominee to the Supreme Court will receive a vote in this Senate in the near future.”

Kavanaugh’s refusal to step aside — backed by President Donald Trump, McConnell and key Senate Republicans — sets up a blockbuster hearing that will determine whether the appeals court judge can be elevated to the nation’s highest court.

A day after The New Yorker published an article Sunday night laying out a separate allegation by a second woman, Kavanaugh told the Judiciary Committee he is facing “smears, pure and simple” and reiterated his desire to testify on Thursday about a sexual assault claim made by Christine Blasey Ford.

“These are smears, pure and simple. And they debase our public discourse,” Kavanaugh wrote in a letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairman and ranking member of Judiciary, respectively, of the sexual abuse allegations against him. “But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service.”

But Ford — in a personal letter on Feb. 22 to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that was released on Monday as well — said she tried to come forward months ago confidentially with her allegations against Kavanaugh, and hopes to one day be able to return to her normal life.

“Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions, while many years ago, were serious and have had a lasting impact on my life,” Ford wrote. “I thought that knowledge of his actions could be useful for you and those in charge of choosing among the various candidates. My original intent was first and foremost to be a helpful citizen — in a confidential way that would minimize collateral damage to all families and friends involved.”

Ford also said she is “spending considerable time managing death threats, avoiding people following me on freeways, and disconcerting media intrusion, including swarms of vans at my home and unauthorized persons entering my classroom and medical settings where I work.”

With Kavanaugh’s fate as a Supreme Court nominee hanging in the balance, the White House and Senate GOP leader have changed tactics, going on the offensive to save its embattled pick for the high court following the accusations from a second woman, Deborah Ramirez. In the New Yorker article, Ramirez claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party while they were both students at Yale University. Kavanaugh has rejected Ramirez’s claim as a “smear.”

Trump reiterated his support for Kavanaugh during an appearance at the United Nations on Monday.

“For people to come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago and 30 years ago and — never mentioned it, all of a sudden it happens — in my opinion, it’s totally political. It’s totally political,” Trump said. “There’s a chance that this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything.”

“Judge Kavanaugh is an outstanding person, and I am with him all the way,” Trump added.

Republican senators are returning to Washington with “no idea” as to how the Kavanaugh scandal will play out, said one GOP senator. McConnell will meet with his leadership team on Monday afternoon to assess Kavanaugh’s confirmation prospects.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans will also huddle privately with McConnell to discuss the latest developments in the rapidly changing controversy, according to Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and other GOP sources.

Republican leaders are closely watching the reactions of Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bob Corker of Tennessee to the latest Kavanaugh news to determine whether they can proceed with the nomination, according to GOP senators and aides.

Collins on Monday afternoon declined to comment.

“I’m not going to make statements right now. I will later,” Collins told reporters.

A Republican senator familiar with internal deliberations said the electoral calculations of McConnell and other GOP leaders could weigh more heavily on Kavanaugh’s future than a small group of undecided GOP lawmakers. This Republican argued that if GOP leaders can keep the majority, confirming someone other than Kavanaugh would be less of a problem than taking a major political hit in November.

“They care a lot about this nominee. But they care far more about being the majority,” the senator said on Monday. “If I were [Kavanaugh], I would be more concerned with that than the three or four independent-minded senators … his greatest threat is McConnell and Senate leadership if they think this is going against them in the midterms.”

Trump’s closest allies among Senate Republicans also weighed in on the latest Kavanaugh allegations, blaming the Democrats for engaging in “character assassination” against the nominee.

“The Democrats are engaged in a campaign of delay and character assassination against Judge Kavanaugh,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), tweeted. “It’s time to vote this week.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who serves on the Judiciary Committee, also criticized Democrats for playing “a game of delay, deception and wholesale character assassination.”

“In my view, the process needs to move forward with a hearing Thursday, and vote in committee soon thereafter,” Graham said in a statement.

In an article published on Sunday night by The New Yorker, the 53-year-old Ramirez said that when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale in the 1983-84 academic school year, he “exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.”

However, The New York Times reported that it could not verify Ramirez’s allegations, despite interviews with dozens of students from that time period. The White House circulated that report from The New York Times to buttress its claim that Kavanaugh was being unfairly vilified by Democrats looking to sink his nomination.

Both the White House and Kavanaugh took a different tone on the Ramirez allegations than they had with Ford’s allegations, calling them a part of a campaign to smear their Supreme Court nominee and take him out before November’s midterm elections.

Kavanaugh decried the claim as a “smear, plain and simple.” That was a term the judge had never used about Ford’s claim and a tone he had not previously taken.

Ford and Ramirez, who are registered Democrats, have said their decisions to come forward are not politically motivated.

Also lurking is the possibility that a third woman may come forward with fresh allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh.

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, alluded to a third Kavanaugh accuser in posts on Twitter on Sunday night. So far, Avenatti has offered no details on any new accusations, but said he will release details about the woman in the next 48 hours.

Rebecca Morin contributed to this report.