President Donald Trump apologized "on behalf of our nation” to newly-confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his family "for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure."
"And with that, I must state that you sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent," Trump said just before the oath was administered.
The controversy over the sexual assault allegations against incoming Supreme Court Justice constituted a "disgraceful situation, brought about by people that are evil," Trump stated earlier on Monday as he celebrated his party's success in confirming the judge during a speech to law enforcement officials in Florida.
"He's a great person and it was very, very unfair what happened to him," Trump said during remarks to the International Association of Chiefs of Police's annual convention. "False charges. False accusations. Horrible statements that were totally untrue that he knew nothing about."
"It was a disgraceful situation, brought about people that are evil," the president added, though it was unclear whether he was referring to Kavanaugh's accusers, Senate Democrats opposing his confirmation, or other unnamed individuals.
On Monday evening in the East Room of the White House, the president will participate in the ceremonial swearing-in of Kavanaugh. The ceremony cements Kavanaugh’s place on the Supreme Court and Trump’s legacy of confirming conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
Trump said he initially told Kavanaugh his confirmation would be a “piece of cake.” At first, Kavanaugh seemed likely to march through the confirmation process with little controversy, but soon, allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh sparked one of the most contentious nomination processes in modern history.
A professor named Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault during a teenage party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh vehemently denied the accusation, but both he and Ford were called to testify about the alleged incident before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The next day, during a dramatic committee hearing, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, said he would vote to move Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the floor on the condition that the FBI hold a formal investigation.
The next week, after protests on Capitol Hill, a final, historically narrow vote was cast for Kavanaugh 50 to 48.
Kavanaugh was officially sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts as the 102nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on Saturday.
Kavanaugh’s wife Ashley held the Bible as he took the Constitutional Oath as his two daughters stood by his side in the Justices’ Conference Room of the Supreme Court. Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose place on the Supreme Court Kavanaugh is replacing, administered the Judicial Oath. Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, and Elena Kagan also attended the swearing-in. The event at the White House is ceremonial and symbolic.
While Trump plans to attend and make remarks, a spokesperson for First Lady Melania Trump confirmed she will not be in attendance because of a previously scheduled event.
All eyes will be on Kavanaugh as he makes his debut on the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Kavanaugh will hear the first two cases of his tenure on the court, STOKELING V. UNITED STATES and UNITED STATES V. STITT, cases that deal with the nuances of robbery and burglary respectively.
During Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, he announced that all of his Supreme Court clerks will be women.
"I’ll be the first justice in the history of the Supreme Court to have a group of all women law clerks. That is who I am. That is who I was," Kavanaugh said during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27.
After weeks of controversy, the president on Monday lauded efforts by both Kavanaugh and Senate Republicans to keep working towards the confirmation process amid the controversy, claiming that "a lot of people would've said, 'let's give it up, let's go a different direction.'"
"We all toughed it out together and I have to thank the Republican senators that fought so hard for this because it wasn't easy," Trump said. "And it was a great honor to be involved in the situation."
from ABC News: Politics https://ift.tt/2O9Xb1n
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