WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh acknowledged drinking "too many" beers on occasion during high school and doing things "that make me cringe now" in prepared testimony to be delivered Thursday, but he forcefully denied allegations of sexual assault.

Responding to Christine Blasey Ford, who has alleged that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a house party in the early 1980s, the federal appeals court judge declared his innocence under oath.

"I am here this morning to answer these allegations and to tell the truth," Kavanaugh said in his prepared remarks, which were released Wednesday ahead of Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "And the truth is that I have never sexually assaulted anyone – not in high school, not in college, not ever."

Kavanaugh and Ford are scheduled to appear separately at Thursday's hearing and field questions from Republicans and Democrats. Republicans plan to have a professional sex crimes investigator do much of the questioning for them.

"I categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation against me by Dr. Ford," Kavanaugh said in the prepared remarks. "I never had any sexual or physical encounter of any kind with Dr. Ford.

"I am not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time. But I have never done that to her or to anyone. I am innocent of this charge," Kavanaugh said.

Kavanaugh, 53, was on the verge of being confirmed to the ninth and most important seat on the equally divided Supreme Court when Ford's accusation came to light nearly two weeks ago. Since then, two other women have come forward with unsubstantiated allegations.

Ford, a college professor in California, sent the committee statements from her husband and three other people in which they attested to hearing her story years ago about being assaulted by Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh sent the committee a copy of his calendar from the summer of 1982, which did not mention the specific party in question.

The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a meeting Friday to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination. Republican leaders have said they may bring Kavanaugh's nomination to a vote of the full Senate by early next week.

That would be before the other accusations have been fully investigated. A second woman, Deborah Ramirez, has accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself during a Yale University drinking game when they were both freshmen. And a third, Julie Swetnick, said Wednesday that she observed Kavanaugh drink to excess and "engage in abusive behavior" toward girls in high school.

Kavanaugh sought to address all the accusations in his prepared testimony.

"Over the past few days, other false and uncorroborated accusations have been aired," he said. "There has been a frenzy to come up with something – anything, no matter how far-fetched or odious – that will block a vote on my nomination. These are last-minute smears, pure and simple."

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