Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Monday addressed the allegations being made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and attacked Democrats for waiting until the 11th hour to release the allegation.
Similar to some of his Republican colleagues and President Donald Trump, McConnell questioned why Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) waited until the eleventh hour to release the information concerning the allegation when she had the information for several weeks.
"Now at the 11th hour... now they choose to introduce this allegation," he said.
The woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault is Christine Ford. Ford told the Washington Post that Kavanaugh, then a junior in high school, attacked her when they were at a party in Maryland in the early 1980s. She alleged Kavanaugh forced her onto a bed, groped her, and tried to remove her clothes while he was heavily intoxicated, all while his friend Mark Judge watched. She said she managed to escape after Judge jumped on them, sending them tumbling and giving her an opportunity to get out of the room.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegation and released another statement on Monday where he said he is willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee again.
"In the Senate, and around the country, almost everyone who went into this process with an open mind who was prepared to give Judge Kavanaugh a fair hearing has come away impressed, " McConnell said. "But now, now an accusation of 36-year-old misconduct dating back to high school has been brought forward at the last minute in an irregular manner. It is an accusation which Judge Kavanaugh has completely and unequivocally denied."
The Senate Majority Leader raised concerns over the timing of the allegation as the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination on Thursday. Democrats and some Republicans have called for a delay in the committee vote.
"It is an accusation," McConnell continued, "which the ranking member of the committee has known about for at least six weeks. Known about for six weeks, yet chose to keep secret until the 11th hour. Neither she nor any of her Democratic colleagues chose to raise this allegation during the committee staff's bipartisan background calls with the nominee. "
The issue was not raised even when Kavanaugh met privately with Feinstein in the weeks leading up to his confirmation hearing, McConnell revealed.
"They did not raise it even with the name redacted in the 65 meetings," McConnell said."Sixty-five meetings Judge Kavanaugh held with senators before his confirmation hearing, including his private meeting with the ranking member. They did not raise it even with the name redacted in four days of exhaustive public hearings while Judge Kavanaugh testified under oath. Even though they chose to raise myriad other matters at the hearing, including sometimes bizarre innuendo.
The appropriate time, according to McConnell, to raise the issue and keep the Ford's anonymity, would have been in closed session.
"They did not raise it in the closed session," McConnell pointed out,"the proper forum where such an allegation could have been addressed with discretion and sensitivity. They did not raise it in the 1,000-plus follow-up questions that senators sent to Judge Kavanaugh in writing. "
McConnell called the Democrats' handling of the matter "egregious" and supported Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) in continuing the hearings and bringing both Kavanaugh and his accuser before the committee for questioning.
Grassley has not yet announced when such interviews would take place or whether they would occur in public hearings or in private session.