Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh called Democratic opposition to his nomination “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” during an emotional and aggressive opening statement on Thursday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his confirmation.
“This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups,” a seething Kavanaugh said.
{mosads}”This is a circus,” Kavanaugh said with urgency. “The consequences will extend long past my nomination; the consequences will be with us for decades.”
The embattled Supreme Court nominee throughout his testimony targeted Democrats who have openly opposed him, blaming them for destroying his family.
He quoted Democratic leaders who have called him “evil” and “your worst nightmare” and warned he would “threaten the lives of millions of Americans for decades to come.”
“I would say to those senators: Your words have meaning,” he said. “Millions of Americans listen carefully to you.”
“Given comments like those, is it any surprise that people have been willing to do anything, to make any physical threat against my family, to send any violent email to my wife, to make any kind of allegation against me and against my friends, to blow me up and take me down?” he asked. “You sowed the wind for decades to come.”
“The whole country will reap the whirlwind,” he added.
Kavanaugh’s statement came hours after Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school, completed her testimony.
Kavanaugh is President Trump’s second nominee to the Supreme Court. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.