Transcript for White House celebrates impending Kavanaugh confirmation

As we said, assuming Kavanaugh is confirmed, it is a major victory for the president getting a second justice on the supreme court. ABC's white house correspondent Tara Palmeri has more from the white house with how the president is responding to the swing votes swinging in his direction. Hours before the likely confirmation of judge Brett Kavanaugh to the high court, president trump taking a victory lap with just a tweet saying, very proud of the U.S. Senate for voting yes to advance the nomination of judge Brett Kavanaugh. The president's pick potentially shifting the balance of the supreme court cementing a solid 5-4 conservative majority with the lifetime appointment. Tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce that I will nominate judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States supreme court. Reporter: If Kavanaugh is confirmed to the swing seat vacated by the moderate justice Anthony Kennedy earlier this year, it would be the second justice president trump has put on the supreme court after appointing justice Neil Gorsuch. We're going to appoint great justices to the United States supreme court who will uphold and defend the constitution of the United States. Reporter: Previously calling Dr. Christine blasey Ford who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault a credible witness. But certainly she was a very credible witness. Reporter: Then at a campaign rally in Mississippi, the president seemingly mocking Ford just days after her testimony on capitol hill. What neighborhood was it in? I don't know. Where is the house? I don't know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don't know. But I had one beer. That's the only thing I remember. Reporter: Those comments garnering swift backlash from key lawmakers. To discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just -- it's just not right. I wish he hadn't have done it. Reporter: That backlash not enough to sink the nomination. White house sources tell me the president took a hands-off approach to lobbying those key swing senators, flake, murkowski and Collins, mainly due to the fact that he has a frayed relationship with those moderate Republicans. Dan. Tara, thank you. Joining us from Washington is white house deputy secretary, deputy press secretary Raj shah. Raj, good morning. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. En -- thanks so much for having me on. "The Washington post" is out with an article this morning quoting white house officials as saying the president's decision to go after Christine blasey Ford in that rally may have, quote, proved a key turning point toward victory for this polarizing nominee. So in hindsight do you think mocking Dr. Ford while controversial was, in fact, the right move here? Well, I would say that the president wasn't mocking Dr. Ford as much as stating facts. While he found the testimony sincere and heartfelt and sympathetic, nonetheless there were serious questions to be raised that he did, and they were consistent with the words of the special prosecutor in her memo, which is that Dr. Ford and Kavanaugh's testimony for this charge didn't even meet the preponderance of evidence standard which is was it more likely than not and this is what senator Collins also seized on, that she could be heartfelt but there were no corroborating witnesses, there was no additional information to back up her account. All the additional evidence seemed to support judge Kavanaugh. Raj, I want to ask about this question about the president not mocking Dr. Ford. If we can, let's cue up the video of him speaking at the rally and listen to it again. Here it is. Where is the house? I don't know. Upstair, downstairs, where was it? I don't know but I had one beer. That's the only thing I remember. That really does not sound to you like mocking? I know he's stating facts but if you listen to his tone, it certainly sounds like he's making fun of a woman who came forward and disclosed some very personal and painful details of her private life. Well, Dan, if you look at what he said and what prosecutor Mitchell's memo said, they're pretty consistent which is that there are serious factual -- I'm not sure you're addressing the question of his tone, though, Raj. You can disagree with his tone but can you disagree with the substance and I think that the key here is that what he was pointing to are facts. He was stating facts. These are the same facts that the prosecutor stated. These are some of the facts that senator Collins relied on when she talked about why she was voting for judge Kavanaugh. Let me ask you about something that happened last night. A sitting supreme court justice, Elena Kagan said justices -- that people on the court, justices on the court need to remain, quote, above the fray. Given judge Kavanaugh's comments during that now infamous hearing about the attacks on him being fueled by -- and these are his words -- revenge on behalf of the Clintons, do you think he's going to take his seat on the court with some sort of partisan cloud over his head, and just, for example, do you think he can be trusted to fairly adjudicate cases where one side may be coming from the left? Well, if you've seen his record as a judge for over 12 years and with over 300 opinions, he has acted like an impartial, fair-minded judge throughout his career. I don't think one can hold against judge Kavanaugh for being emotional in his testimony last week given what he's had to deal with, what he and his family have had to deal with but if you look at his actual record over 12 years and talked about it in this recent op-ed with "The Wall Street journal" in which he is committed to being a fair, impartial and evenhanded justice on the supreme court. Worth noting though a member of your own party Alaska senator murkowski said she was going to vote no here because precisely because of his tone. But let me ask you one last final question. This has been such a bitter and divisive fight. Do you think it's on the president to help unite the country now? Is he willing and capable of doing so? Sure, and I think the process has been ugly. It has been difficult, and it doesn't bode well for future supreme court nominees and fights but I think we can learn a lot more from this process. I think the president is going to talk, though, about what this pick means to the court, to his legacy, to what he's doing to try to make American jurisprudence a better -- better for the country. Raj shah, we really appreciate you getting up early with us on a Saturday morning. Thank you very much. Thanks so much, Dan. Definitely shows the divisiveness in the country, not just there in D.C. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're going to be living with this for awhile.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.