Trump defends court nominee: 'I am with him all the way'

Thomson Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday defended his U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after a second woman came forward with an allegation of sexual misconduct against the judge that has further complicated his confirmation prospects in the Senate.

"Judge Kavanaugh is an outstanding person. I am with him all the way," Trump said after he arrived in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

On Sunday night, the New Yorker magazine published an article in which a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, described an instance of alleged sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh that dates to the 1983-84 academic year when both attended Yale University. Ramirez is cited by the New Yorker as saying Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken dormitory party.

Trump stood by Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge, as the new allegations threatened to upend a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Thursday to hear testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor in California who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in 1982.

After the new allegations surfaced, Democrats called for a delay in Thursday's hearing.

Trump made clear on Monday he considered the allegations politically motivated.

"For people to come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago, and 30 years ago and never mention it - all of a sudden it happens," Trump said. "In my opinion it's totally political. It's totally political."

The controversy over Kavanaugh is unfolding just weeks before Nov. 6 congressional elections in which Democrats are trying to take control of Congress from Trump's fellow Republicans.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Will Dunham)

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