Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said he hasn't seen evidence to corroborate sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, on Thursday.
Asked if he found Ford to be credible, Graham said he "didn't find her allegations to be corroborated against Mr. Kavanaugh."
"I don't doubt something happened to her, but she is saying it's Brett Kavanaugh. But she can't tell me the house, the city, she can't tell me the month of the year. He's saying 'I didn't do it.'" Graham said. "So here's what you do when you have an emotional accusation and an emotional denial, use the rule of law. The presumption of innocence attaches to the person accused."
The senator criticized Democrats for politicizing the allegations against Kavanaugh.
"I’m really upset if Dianne Feinstein believed this was a credible allegation that she wouldn't do Judge Kavanaugh the service of saying 'I've got this [letter], what's your side of the story?' Turn it over to the committee so we can have something, not this close to the midterms," Graham said.
He accused Democrats of using the allegations to delay a vote on Kavanaugh until after the midterm elections in November.
"All I can say is that we’re 40-something days away from the election, and their goal, not Ms. Fords’s goal, is to delay this past the midterms so they can win the Senate and never allow Trump to fill the seat. I believe that now more than ever," he said.
"I'm not going to reward people for playing a political game, I think, with her life," Graham added later.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) sent a fundraising email less than 30 minutes into opening remarks of Thursday’s hearing. About an hour later, Hirono sent another email apologizing for sending the fundraising email, claiming it was sent in "error."