Washington, Oct 9: President Donald Trump prepared a triumphant swearing-in ceremony for his new conservative Supreme Court justice Monday and called sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh a "hoax." Following arguably the biggest - and hardest-fought - victory of his controversy-strewn presidency, Trump was crowing.
Kavanaugh's Saturday confirmation in one of the closest such Senate votes in history highlighted deep American polarization ahead of November 6 congressional midterm elections where Democrats hope to end Republican dominance. But far from using the aftermath of the battle to try and heal the nation, Trump piled into even fiercer attacks. Boarding the Marine One helicopter at the White House, he branded the sexual assault allegations that threatened to derail Kavanaugh's path to the top court "a hoax" and "all made up, fabricated."
Democrats, Trump said, "tortured him (Kavanaugh) and his family. I thought it was a disgrace." The president - whose Republicans fear losing at least the lower chamber of Congress in November - angrily predicted that the Kavanaugh row would backfire on Democrats. "I think a lot of Democrats are going to vote Republican," he said. "I think you're going to see a lot of things happening on November 6 that wouldn't have."
Democrats fought tooth and nail to stop Kavanaugh's candidacy, claiming that the accomplished, conservative-minded judge was not suited to the Supreme Court, which will now tilt decisively to a more Republican-friendly panel. Then, just as his confirmation seemed inevitable, 11th-hour allegations emerged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl while at high school and exposed himself to a female classmate at an alcohol-fueled dorm party at Yale University.
No concrete evidence was produced to back up the searing accusations. Then an extra FBI probe - which media reports say was drastically curtailed by the White House -- also found nothing new and Kavanaugh was finally voted into the coveted post. Late Monday, Trump was set to rub salt into opponents' wounds by hosting a formal swearing-in ceremony.
Kavanaugh officially took the oath in a more hurried, private procedure Saturday, but the White House version will be a chance for the Trump administration to celebrate publicly.
High stakes
Trump told a conference of police chiefs in Florida that he considered overseeing the ceremony an "honor." He called the Kavanaugh row "a disgraceful situation brought about by people who are evil," and said that the result was "very exciting." "I'm doing rallies and people are loving that man and loving that choice," he told the police audience.
In reality, Kavanaugh's confirmation lit a match under existing left-right tensions. The two-vote margin of victory in the Senate made it the closest Supreme Court confirmation vote since 1881 - and by far the most contentious since Clarence Thomas in 1991. Only one Democrat voted for Trump's nominee.
Kavanaugh's nomination as a replacement for retired justice Anthony Kennedy - long seen as a key swing vote - was controversial from the start. The initial focus of opposition was solely on the conservative views held by the married father of two. Then came bombshell testimony from university research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her at a gathering when they were in school.
Now that Kavanaugh is confirmed, the nine-justice court, which rules on constitutional questions, is expected to take a more reliably conservative approach. Trump has repeatedly said that putting conservatives on the court - Kavanaugh is his second appointment - was among the top goals of his presidency. Since justices serve lifetime appointments, the political consequences are likely to last long beyond Trump's administration.
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