Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) became extremely frustrated with the coverage of the series of sexual misconduct allegations against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh during a hearing Thursday.
"I hate to say this but this is worse than Robert Bork and I didn’t think it could get any worse than that," Hatch said. "This is worse than Clarence Thomas. I didn’t think it could get any worse than that."
"Porn star lawyers with facially implausible claims are driving the news cycle," Hatch complained.
Hatch was referencing Michael Avenatti, who represents adult film star Stormy Daniels in her case against the president. Avenatti came forward Tuesday representing Julie Swetnick, a woman accusing Kavanaugh of being part of a group of high school guys that spiked the punch at parties and gang raped girls.
Multiple Democratic senators asked Kavanaugh to deny Swetnick’s allegations which he did, however, they did not specifically mention her claims of gang rape.
“Are you a gang rapist?” an extremely frustrated Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) did ask Kavanaugh at one point to demonstrate how outlandish he considered the claims to be.
Kavanaugh replied in the negative.
"If Judge Kavanaugh committed sexual assault, he should not serve on the Supreme Court, I think we’d all agree with that," Sen. Hatch emphasized in his remarks, saying this process "has brought out the worst in our politics."
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"It certainly has brought us no closer to the truth," he added.
"Anonymous letters with no name and no return address are now being treated as national news," he said.
Judge Kavanaugh gave an emotional testimony Thursday denying Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations that he groped her and pinned her down while he was drunk at a party in high school. The witnesses she initially claimed were present have denied that such an event occurred.
He vehemently denied Swetnick’s allegations, calling them a “farce.”
Dr. Ford also gave an emotional account of her allegations, eliciting sympathy from the committee and praise from the Democrats. However, she struggled with certain facts during questioning such as whether or not she showed therapy notes to the Washington Post, why her fear of flying was cited as a reason for not coming to the hearing despite her having traveled extensively for vacation, and what day she took a polygraph test.
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