Trump says GOP wouldn’t have won on Kavanaugh without speech mocking Ford

President Trump in an interview aired Sunday said Republicans wouldn’t have won on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation had he not made a speech in which he mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

The president made the comment on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” after correspondent Lesley Stahl referenced a speech Trump delivered during a Mississippi rally earlier in October.

“Had I not made that speech, we would not have won,” Trump said.

President Trump on his treatment of Justice Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during a speech in Mississippi: “Had I not made that speech, we would not have won.” pic.twitter.com/We2r9Zi9Iz

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 14, 2018

Trump drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike when, during the speech, he did a joking impersonation of Ford as she answered questions from senators regarding her sexual assault allegations.{mosads}

“36 years ago, this happened,” Trump said at the rally, referencing the party in 1982 where Ford alleges Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her.

He then launched into a mocking imitation of her, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd.

“How did you get home?” Trump said. ” ‘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.’ “

Pressed by Stahl during the interview that aired on Sunday, Trump denied he was making fun of her.

“What I said the person that we’re talking about didn’t know the year, the time, the place,” he said, adding that he thinks he treated Ford with “respect.”

Trump earlier in October said on Fox News that he had made the comments to “even the playing field” during Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation process. 

The Senate voted 50-48 last week to confirm Kavanaugh, one of the slimmest margins for a Supreme Court confirmation vote in the country’s history. The allegations brought by Ford and other women nearly upended his nomination and fueled mass protests on Capitol Hill and other parts of the country.

Trump, who declined on “60 Minutes” to say whether he thought Ford lied, has repeatedly decried the unfair treatment he believes Kavanaugh experienced during the process.

Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegations, as well as those brought against him by two other women.