President Donald Trump led the offensive, telling reporters that the charges against Brett Kavanaugh “could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything." | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Kavanaugh Confirmation White House, GOP point to Democratic ‘resistance’ behind Kavanaugh ‘smear’ They allege a sinister liberal plot to bring down the Supreme Court nominee.

At first, the Sunday night publication of a New Yorker article detailing a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh looked like a disaster for the White House.

But by Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump’s aides and allies argued it was not only survivable, but that they could turn an alleged “smear” into a political winner that might help rescue Kavanaugh’s nomination. The judge‘s accusers had overplayed their hand, they insisted of the mounting charges, and revealed the coordinated partisan attack on an honorable man.


Trump led the new offensive, telling reporters that the charges “could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything." The allegations are “starting to feel like a vast left-wing conspiracy,” counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway told CBS. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh rejected the accusations as “smears, pure and simple,” adding: “The last-minute character assassination will not succeed.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attributed the charges to “the resistance.”

Undergirding the firm response was the White House’s belief that surrender in the face of what Republican loyalists consider a liberal assault would cost Trump dearly with conservative voters, a view drawn from internal White House polling. Some key Trump officials and allies also believe the allegations are not true, or that Kavanaugh is being unfairly condemned without the benefit of due process, and are fighting to save a good man’s honor.

Trump, who views packing the federal courts with conservative judges as central to his legacy, was consumed by the story as it developed over the weekend. He expressed frustration over what he felt was the White House’s initially muted response to the accusation of high school-era assault leveled by Christine Blasey Ford earlier this month, and he instructed them to mount a more aggressive offensive in the aftermath of the New Yorker story, according to a person familiar with the internal dynamics at the White House.





Trump officials were heartened by Kavanaugh’s quick and flat denial of Sunday night’s allegation, from a former Yale classmate of the conservative judge who says he exposed himself in her face during a lewd drinking game. Republicans pounced on a New York Times report which said reporters there had interviewed dozens in an attempt to corroborate the story of the woman, Deborah Ramirez, but could find no one with firsthand knowledge. That fact was gleefully noted in press releases from the White House and the Republican National Committee, as well as a floor speech by McConnell.

“The Democrats jumped the shark with the New Yorker,” one prominent conservative told POLITICO. “The flimsiness of the accusation has allowed Trump, Republicans, and Kavanaugh himself to rally the base. The Democratic strategy is on the precipice of collapse.”

Further bolstering the White House’s confidence by the day’s end was the notable absence of public statements from key Senate Republicans — compounded by the conveniently distracting media frenzy over whether Trump will fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein later this week.

Conway held a call with Trump allies on Monday, in which she strongly defended Kavanaugh and affirmed the White House's support for him, according to a participant. Another said that Conway stressed that Kavanaugh has never been accused of using his power over professional subordinates, as have prominent media figures like Harvey Weinstein, Les Moonves and Matt Lauer.

Democrats insist that the GOP confidence is tone-deaf and could prove politically disastrous, particularly if new evidence emerges against Kavanaugh, or if his accusers appear to be treated poorly. Democrats also believe that Ford could emerge as a highly sympathetic figure during her scheduled Senate testimony on Thursday.

“The White House should have pulled the nomination a week ago,” said one Democratic strategist helping to oppose the nomination. “They’ve created a perfect storm for us working [congressional] races.”

And while the White House was projecting confidence that Kavanaugh would survive the ordeal, the mood in the West Wing was markedly more tense than in the aftermath of his relatively uneventful confirmation hearings earlier this month, when staffers were absolutely certain he would be confirmed.



Still, some Trump allies said they were also heartened by Kavanaugh's adamant self-defense.

“A lot of people would have walked away” from the scathing public scrutiny by now, marveled one White House official.

With Trump presiding over United Nations meeting in New York, the concurrent deathwatches for Kavanaugh and Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, kicked off another surreal week in Trump’s Washington.

By late Monday morning, the White House put off a decision on Rosenstein, who expected to be fired, by announcing he will meet with the president on Thursday – the same day Kavanaugh and his original accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are scheduled to go before the Judiciary Committee.

Administration officials and Republicans close to the confirmation process stressed that the onus was on the Senate to stand by Kavanaugh, though they remained skeptical Ford will testify. Her representatives concluded the call late Sunday with several outstanding questions and had yet to hear back from Senate Republican aides as of 3:30 p.m. Monday, a person with knowledge of the discussions told POLITICO. Fold told Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a personal letter written Saturday and released Monday that her chief motivation in bringing the allegation against Kavanaugh was “to tell the truth” about what he did.

“While I am frightened, please know, my fear will not hold me back from testifying and you will be provided with answers to all of your questions,” Ford added.

But by the afternoon, McConnell was vowing an “up or down vote” for Kavanaugh on the Senate floor.

“This is what the so-called ‘resistance’ has become,” McConnell said, in remarks that closely tracked with the White House’s new offensive. “A smear campaign, pure and simple – aided and abetted by members of the U.S. Senate.”

Trump officials were in close contact with key senators and planned to make it clear to them and their conservative base that with six weeks to go before the midterm elections there is no “Plan B” should Kavanaugh be forced to step aside, another source familiar with the confirmation said.

Their plan is to take it to the conservative base and get people fired up: “pure power politics now,” is how the Republican put it.

Central to their argument is the idea that the reporting on Kavanaugh is politically motivated and doesn’t meet the standards that were used in exposes on media moguls like Harvey Weinstein and Les Moonves, both stories worked on by the investigative reporter Ronan Farrow, who shared a byline on the New Yorker’s Ramirez piece.

In bullet-pointed pushback to the story, the White House noted that it took six days of Ramirez “assessing her memories” to say she recalled Kavanaugh committing the alleged acts, “and that came only after consulting with an attorney provided by the Democrats,” the statement said.

In separate talking points distributed by the Republican National Committee, researchers noted that several supposed witnesses named by the accuser denied the event took place. “People who knew the accuser after Yale say she never described this incident until Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination was pending,” the RNC noted.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also noted that Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who has represented porn star Stormy Daniels, emerged on Sunday claiming that he, too, has evidence of still more alleged misconduct by Kavanaugh.

“1) No witnesses. 2) No corroborating evidence,” McDaniel tweeted. “3) Michael Avenatti is involved.”

Nancy Cook, Alex Isenstadt and Eliana Johnson contributed to this report.