A lawyer who represented former President Clinton during the Ken Starr investigation is endorsing President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, on Tuesday.
Bob Bennett wrote in a letter to the top senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee that he came to respect Kavanaugh during the time that the two spent on opposite sides amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Politico reports.
{mosads}”I first crossed paths with Brett in the mid-1990s, when we found ourselves lined up on opposite sides of the decade’s biggest legal battle. At the time, I was serving as President Clinton’s personal lawyer in the Paula Jones case,” Bennett wrote, referring to a woman who accused Clinton of sexual harassment.
“Brett had just joined the Office of Independent Counsel under Ken Starr, then investigating the President,” he added. “Despite being on opposite sides of the Starr investigation, however, Brett and I managed to avoid falling prey” to more divisive political instincts, Bennett added.
“Brett’s integrity quickly won me over, and we became close friends despite our differences (and the differences between the Presidents we served).”
Bennett’s letter contained no references to Trump by name, but went on to praise Kavanaugh as “the most qualified person any Republican President could possibly have nominated.”
Kavanaugh has faced opposition from Democrats over his views on whether a president can be investigated for criminal liability, as well as questions over his stance on Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion-rights case.
A coalition of ten left-leaning groups and organizations on announced a campaign against Kavanaugh, who is scheduled to be introduced at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Sept. 4.
“The fight against Brett Kavanaugh is winnable but only if Senate Democrats quickly unite in opposition so we can focus on pressuring a Republican to break ranks,” Demand Justice co-founder and former Hillary Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said.