White House doubles down on Trump's mockery of Christine Ford: 'The president was stating facts'

The White House has defended Donald Trump’s mocking of one of the women to have accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, claiming “the president was stating the facts”.

Speaking to supporters in Southaven, Mississippi, on Tuesday, the president poured scorn on the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and sought to point out what he said was its inconsistencies.

“How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know,” Mr Trump said on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, a number of Republican senators who are going to be central to Mr Kavanaugh’s and speaking to some of his friends and former colleagues, Jeff Flake, a senator from Arizona, said Mr Trump’s comments were wrong.

“There’s no time and no place for remarks like that. To discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right. It’s just not right. I wish he hadn’t had done it,” Mr Flake told NBC News. “It’s kind of appalling.”

A second Republican senator, Susan Collins, said: “The president’s comments were just plain wrong.”

Speaking at an event hosted by The Atlantic magazine, Trump ally Lindsey Graham, a senior from South Carolina, said he “didn’t particularly like” the president’s remarks, adding: “I would tell him, knock it off. You’re not helping.”

But asked about Mr Trump’s comments at a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the president’s actions and words.

“The president was stating the facts and frankly facts that were included in special prosecutor Rachel Mitchell’s report,” she said. “He was stating facts that were given in Dr Ford’s testimony.”

Asked whether she believed Mr Kavanaugh – who denies allegations of sexual assault and misconduct from at least three woman – was a victim, she said: “I think both Dr Ford and Judge Kavanaugh are the victims at the hands of the Democrats. I think it is absolutely disgraceful what they’ve done.”

Ms Mitchell, an Arizona-based prosecutor, was retained by Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to question Ms Ford, a California-based academic and a psychologist, and Mr Kavanaugh, when they appeared on Capitol Hill last week.

At the conclusion of her questioning of the witnesses, she wrote a note to Republicans saying she did not believe a “reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against Mr Kavanaugh based on Ms Ford’s testimony and supporting evidence, or rather lack of it.

“In the legal context, here is my bottom line: A ‘he said, she said’ case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that,” she wrote. “Dr Ford identified other witnesses to the event, and those witnesses either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them. For the reasons discussed below, I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the committee.”

She added: “Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.”

Mr Trump and the Republicans are desperate to secure the confirmation of Mr Kavanaugh, something they can seek to use in the upcoming midterm elections. They grudgingly agreed to Mr Flake’s demand for an additional FBI background check, but despite Mr Trump’s repeated claim that he is happy for agents to speak to who they want to, reports say the probe is limited.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg news said the FBI has not interviewed Mr Kavanaugh or Ms Ford because it does not have clear authority from the White House to do so. Instead, the White House has indicated to the FBI that testimony from Mr Kavanaugh and Mr Ford, before the senate committee, is sufficient.

Senators are preparing to vote on Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation as early as this week. The Associated Press said that politicians emerging from a closed-door lunch, said if the FBI report arrived later in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would trigger a process that could lead to a crucial initial vote Friday and a dramatic confirmation roll call over the weekend. They said that in the meantime, senators and a small number of top aides would be allowed to read the papers in a secure room in the Capitol complex.

Reuters said the FBI has finished an interview with Chris Garrett, a high school friend of Mr Kavanaugh. Ms Ford said she “went out with” Mr Garrett for a few months in high school. Mr Garrett’s lawyer, William Sullivan, said Mr Garrett has voluntarily cooperated with the FBI’s reopened background check, but he declined to comment further.

Mr Garrett is at the least fifth person known to have been interviewed since last Friday, when the White House directed the FBI to look again into the allegations.

Others interviewed include Mark Judge, who Ms Ford has said was in the bedroom where, she says, Mr Kavanaugh sexually attacked her at a 1982 high school gathering. Also interviewed were two others Ms Ford said were present but in a different room - Patrick “PJ” Smyth and Leland Keyser. Mr Judge, Mr Smyth and Ms Keyser have said not recall recall.

The FBI has also questioned Deborah Ramirez, who says he exposed himself to her during a college party but there are no indications agents have questioned Julie Swetnick, who has alleged she was victimised at a party attended by Mr Kavanaugh and his friends, where young girls were drugged and gang-raped. Mr Kavanaugh and Mr Judge have denied this claim too.

Fox News obtained a letter from a former boyfriend of Ms Ford that claimed she had help somebody prepare for a lie detector test. Ms Ford, testified last week she had never helped anyone prepare for a polygraph examination.

On Tuesday evening, in a written declaration, Ms Ford’s ex-boyfriend, whose name was redacted, claimed he saw Ford helping a woman he believed was her “life-long best friend” prepare for a potential polygraph test. He added that the woman, Monica McLean, had been interviewing for jobs with the FBI and US Attorney’s office.

On Wednesday, McLean put out a brief statement denying the claim. She said: “I have NEVER had Christine Blasey Ford, or anybody else, prepare me, or provide any other type of assistance whatsoever in connection with any polygraph exam I have taken at anytime.”