MSNBC legal analyst Cynthia Alksne, a former federal prosecutor, on Thursday characterized Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's emotional defense against an allegation of sexual assault made by Christine Blasey Ford as a "rant," "scary," and a "temper tantrum."
"Well, I thought it was a temper tantrum," Alksne said on an MSNBC panel when asked about Kavanaugh's opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "You have a feeling for what he's like when he is, as his roommate from Yale described him when he drank, that he could be an angry and belligerent drunk."
"He was angry and belligerent, and it was kind of scary," Alksne said of Kavanaugh's behavior.
Kavanaugh gave a fiery defense before the judiciary committee after Ford, who has accused the now-federal judge of drunkenly pinning her to a bed, groping her, and trying to take off her clothes at a high school party in the early 1980s, told her side of the story before the Senate panel.
Kavanaugh adamantly denied Ford's allegation and said that he has never sexually assaulted any woman, presenting evidence to the committee and defending his character and integrity. He also discussed the impact that the situation has had on his family, saying, "My family and my name have been destroyed by vicious and false accusations."
Alksne dismissed Kavanaugh's forceful testimony, commenting that "he wants to be on the Supreme Court, and he's not going to be."
The committee is set to vote Friday on Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Alksne said that the Supreme Court nominee's testimony was so "partisan" that she doubts he can serve as an objective judge.
"It's hard for me to believe you can then rule on cases with that kind of partisanship," she said.
"It's completely everything that a federal judge isn't, was that 50-minute rant," Alksne said of Kavanaugh's opening statement. "I think he's done himself a great disservice in his judge role."