President Trump said he won’t ask the FBI to look into a California university professor’s allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a high school party in 1982.
“It would seem that the FBI really doesn’t do that. They’ve investigated about six times before and it seems like they don’t do that,” the president said as he was leaving the White House Wednesday morning to visit the flood-ravaged Carolinas.
Reporters in the scrum asked if he would contact the FBI after the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said she wants the agency to investigate her claims before she appears at a hearing.
“I would let the senators take their course. Let the senators do it. They’re doing a very good job,” Trump said. “They’ve given tremendous amounts of time. They’ve already postponed a major hearing.”
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee canceled a confirmation vote for Thursday and scheduled a hearing for Monday so that Ford could testify.
Trump said he wants Ford to appear.
“I really want to see her. I really would want to see what she has to say. But I want to give it all the time they need,” he said. “They’ve already given it time, they delayed a major hearing.”
But Ford hasn’t confirmed that she would attend.
“If she shows up, that would be wonderful,” Trump said. “If she doesn’t show up, that would be unfortunate.”
Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University, claims a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and prevented her from screaming out during a party in 1982 in suburban Maryland.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.