President Donald Trump unloaded on Democrats as he defended his embattled Supreme Court nominee, claiming they have treated Brett Kavanaugh 'very unfairly' and charged they were running a 'con game.'

Trump picked up on his twitter attack from Tuesday night, and talked up Kavanaugh on a day his lawyer was defending his high school drinking habits while accuser Christine Blasey Ford released affadavits from people who asserted she told them about her assault allegation.

'I know this particular man, Judge Kavanaugh. He’s outstanding. You don’t find people like this. He’s outstanding,' Trump told reporters at the UN, as Kavanaugh's youth was being put under the microscope.

Of Kavanaugh, who released his high school 1982 calendar on Wednesday, Trump said: 'He’s a gem. He’s an absolute gem. And he’s been treated very unfairly by the Democrats who have been playing a con game.'

Trump continued with his fiery rhetoric. 'They know what they’re doing. it’s a con. They go into a back room and they talk with each other. And they laugh at what they’re getting away with. It’s a con game and that’s what they play. And that’s about the only thing they do well,' he said, before abruptly ending a media availability.

Trump was continuing pushback from Tuesday night, when he accused Democrats of using a 'con game' to try scuttling Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

The president tweeted late Tuesday: 'The Democrats are playing a high level CON GAME in their vicious effort to destroy a fine person.

'It is called the politics of destruction. Behind the scene the Dems are laughing,' he wrote.

'Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and his family!'

Trump also tweeted a quote by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who told Fox News that certain members of the FBI were out to 'destroy' the president.

'These law enforcement people took the law into their own hands when it came to President Trump,' Graham said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump also disparaged the account of the second woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, saying she herself conceded she was 'totally inebriated and all messed up.'

Trump’s remarks came as Republicans worked to shore up support for the beleaguered Kavanaugh, whose march toward Senate confirmation has been rocked by allegations of decades-old sexual improprieties from two women.

On Friday, Trump had mocked claims by Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s chief accuser, of a sexual assault at a 1980s’ high school party, tweeting that she would have reported the incident to police if it was 'as bad as she says.'

While other Republicans have sought to undermine the women’s accounts, Trump has gone further.

Most Republican politicians have been less acidic in challenging the women’s credibility, mindful of competitive November elections in which many female voters are already expected to abandon Republican candidates because of hostility toward Trump.

In remarks to reporters at the United Nations, Trump took aim at Deborah Ramirez, Kavanaugh’s second accuser.

She told The New Yorker magazine that at a party both attended as Yale freshmen in the 1980s, a drunken Kavanaugh placed his penis in front of her and caused her to involuntarily touch it.

She has said she was inebriated as well and has admitted to holes in her memory of some details.

'She said, well it might not be him, and there were gaps, and she was totally inebriated and all messed up,' Trump told reporters.

'She doesn’t know it was him but it might have been him and "Oh gee let’s not make him a Supreme Court judge because of that".'

'This is a con game being played by the Democrats.'

Trump called Kavanaugh 'just a wonderful human being' and suggested that Democrats were skeptical of Ramirez, saying: 'They don’t believe it themselves.'

He said rejecting Kavanaugh would be 'a horrible insult' and 'a very dangerous game' for the US.

Trump spoke two days before the Senate Judiciary Committee plans a pivotal, election-season hearing at which both Kavanaugh and his chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are due to testify separately.

That session, certain to be must-watch television for the nation, looms as a do-or-die wild card for Kavanaugh in which a split-second facial expression, a tear or a choice of words by either witness could prove decisive.

Ford has said Kavanaugh tried removing her clothes and covered her mouth to prevent screams after he pinned her on a bed during a high school party.

Kavanaugh, 53, a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, has denied both women’s stories.

In a Fox News interview Monday night, Kavanaugh said he would not let 'false accusations drive me out of this process.'

Agreeing to a television interview was an extraordinary step for a high court nominee.

Kavanaugh said on the conservative-friendly Fox News Channel that he was not questioning that Ford, his initial accuser, may have been sexually assaulted in her life.

But he added: 'What I know is I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone,' a remarkable assertion for a nominee to the nation’s highest court.</s>President Donald Trump claimed in a Wednesday evening press conference that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is facing “false accusations in some cases.”

The line came when Trump was asked if he believes that the three women who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh are lying.

“I won’t get into that game,” Trump replied, before praising Kavanaugh and claiming that at least some of the accusations are false.</s>WASHINGTON — On a Washington day like no other, President Donald Trump found himself in an unusual spot: Publicly absent from a melodrama gripping the nation.

Closeted in his third-floor White House residence, he avoided opportunities to comment on the proceedings occurring two miles away on Capitol Hill.

But nearing the end of a more-than-eight-hour hearing stamped by unusually raw displays of human emotion and political drama, the president was telling aides and confidants that he believed his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had successfully acquitted himself from accusations of sexual assault and was one step closer to being installed on the highest bench.

“Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him,” he wrote on Twitter fewer than five minutes after the hearing was gaveled to a close.

“His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist.”

He offered a command to Senate Republican leaders: “The Senate must vote!”

Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2018

The president had spent most of the previous week enraged, in public and private, at how the man he selected to reshape the ideological bent of the Supreme Court was being maligned.

He decried Senate Republicans for not pushing for a vote on his nominee’s confirmation before the allegations emerged. He was dismayed by a timid defense offered by Kavanaugh himself during a leaden interview with Fox News.

On Thursday, Trump found himself revived by Kavanaugh’s irate and tearful denial, delivered over the course of 45 minutes as his wife wept at the edge of the camera frame.

The sharply political tinge of his statement — railing against Democrats’ tactics and accusing them of executing “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” — gave Trump confidence an eventual Justice Kavanaugh would rule in his favor.

“President Trump is very pleased with Brett Kavanaugh’s righteous indignation regarding the personal destruction of his good name and his family,” a senior White House official said. “He’s confident in his choice.”

Trump’s confidence, of course, isn’t wholly relevant in the ultimate question of whether Kavanaugh is confirmed.

Republican fence-sitters, namely Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have yet to say how they’ll vote after expressing concerns about the accusations that emerged over the past week.

But White House officials who appeared uncertain about a beleaguered nomination earlier in the week had regained confidence as the hearing neared its end.

“Only way to earn respect in Trumpworld is to brawl and he is brawling,” said one source close to the White House.

“Brett saved his bacon,” said another person with ties to the administration.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, assessed the day saying: “Anyone who opposes Brett Kavanaugh is basically signaling their retirement.”</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into at least one additional allegation of misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, NBC News reported on Wednesday.

According to an anonymous complaint in a letter sent to Republican Senator Cory Gardner, Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman he socialized with in the Washington area in 1998 while he was inebriated, NBC News said, citing the letter and multiple people familiar with the process.

Kavanaugh denied the allegation in the letter during a call on Tuesday with committee staff, NBC News said, citing unnamed sources.</s>In a long, strange press conference in which he changed topics frequently, sometimes in the middle of sentences, President Trump repeated his “con job” characterizations of the accusations of sexual assault and other misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. What was more remarkable was his tendency to identify Kavanaugh’s accusers with the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct in the past. At the same time, however, he left the door open to withdrawing his nomination, depending on what happens at tomorrow’s Judiciary Committee hearing. Trump plans to watch the hearing, and has postponed his momentous meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order not to distract attention from the show.

Here’s CNN’s summary of the exchanges in which Trump made it clear he viewed the accusations against Kavanaugh through the lens of his own experiences:

President Trump, speaking at a press conference in New York, said allegations against Brett Kavanaugh “effect” him because he has had similar allegations many against himself “many times.” “People want fame. They want money. When I see it, I view it differently,” Trump said. “It’s happened to me many times. I’ve had many false charges.” “When you say does it effect me? Absolutely. Because I’ve had it many times,” Trump said regarding the allegations surrounding Kavanaugh. “I was accused by, I believe it was four women… who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me,” Trump said as he continued to blast the media for repeating the allegations. In reality, at least 17 women have accused Trump of sexual assault. “I’ve had a lot of false charges against me,” Trump said.

Despite his interest in watching tomorrow’s hearing, Trump at other points indicated a closed mind about the allegations against Kavanaugh, calling them “all false,” and a fabrication by “evil” Democrats. Asked why he didn’t support an FBI investigation of the allegations, he replied: “There was nothing to investigate.” And then there was this strange tangent:

There were two particular moments where Trump seemed to be really out of touch with the way the Kavanaugh saga is playing out publicly. Asked about how women felt about his dismissal of the allegations against Kavanaugh, he claimed that “women are so angry” about how the judge was being treated, citing the narrow majority of women (actually, just white women) who voted for him in 2016. This on a day when fresh polling showed Kavanaugh and Trump himself losing ground rapidly with Republican women.

Similarly, at the very end of the press conference, Trump was given the opportunity to talk about the message his comments on Kavanaugh might send to young men–you know, young men who hear the president of the United States identifying with and defending someone accused of sexual assault even as the #MeToo movement unveils decades of predatory behavior. His response was remarkable:

Agreeing that this was a “historic moment,” Trump thought it was all about the damage wreaked on men whose accusers were believed without sufficient corroborating evidence. Watch out, boys! he seemed to be saying to teenagers: these lying women will say anything to bring you down.

Asked very directly if he ever gave women the benefit of the doubt in situations like Kavanaugh’s, Trump tossed out one of the most incoherent word salads since Andrew Johnson showed up drunk at his inauguration as vice president:

It’s hard to imagine the president did Brett Kavanaugh much good in this bizarre performance, aside from the angst involved in putting the judge on notice that he might dump him tomorrow if he doesn’t look good on television.</s>President Donald Trump called Michael Avenatti a “third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations” after the attorney released an affidavit from a client who claims she witnessed Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh be “present” during “gang rapes” at parties in the early 1980s.

Avenatti’s client, identified as Julie Swetnick, further alleges she was the victim of one of these gang rapes during which Kavanaugh was on hand in 1982, when he was in high school.

Fox News reported that Kavanaugh responded to the latest allegation saying, “This is ridiculous and from ‘The Twilight Zone.’ I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”

Trump blasted Avenatti on Twitter, writing that he “is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships — a total low-life!

TRENDING: Maryland Police Will Not Investigate 2nd Kavanaugh Allegation Despite Contradictory Reports

Swetnick’s accusation follows one by Christine Blasey Ford who claimed Kavanaugh held her down on a bed and groped and tried to take her clothes off during a high school party, which she believes likely occurred in the summer of 1982.

Additionally, another woman, Deborah Ramirez, says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party at Yale University in the early 1980s, according to Fox News.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina shared Trump’s view that the latest allegation presented by Avenatti needs to be viewed with a high level of skepticism.

“I have a difficult time believing any person would continue to go to — according to the affidavit — 10 parties over a two-year period where women were routinely gang raped and not report it,” Graham tweeted.

Avenatt fired back via Twitter. “.@realDonaldTrump @ChuckGrassley @LindseyGrahamSC — Are you three privileged, white men calling my client Julie a liar? How dare you attack a sexual assault victim. She has risked her life to do the right thing. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Your actions are disgraceful.”

In another tweet, the attorney wrote Trump “pretends he is a tough guy,” but “he is nothing of the kind.”

RELATED: As Nation Focuses on Kavanaugh, Stormy Suit Is Being Shredded by Judge

“That is why the majority of America & the UN laughs at him,” Avenatti added.

According to Fox News, Trump told reporters at the United Nations in New York he is hopeful all the late-breaking controversy and allegations regarding Kavanaugh will be over in a few days and that he will confirmed and become a “Supreme Court justice who will go down as one of our greatest ever.”

Currently, a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination is set for Friday, with a vote of the full Senate to follow early next week.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>President Donald Trump says he's open to changing his mind on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — if the evidence at Thursday's Senate committee hearing is compelling.

Trump says at a news conference in New York that he'll watch the testimony from Kavanaugh and a woman who's accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

The president was asked about whether he might be persuaded to withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination. Trump said: "If I thought he was guilty of something like this ... yeah, sure."

Trump is calling Kavanaugh was "one of the highest quality people" he's ever met. The president insists the accusations are false and he's accusing Democrats of playing politics.

He also trumpeted his efforts to rewrite the nation's trade deals including news that the U.S. and Japan will open negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement.

And he's touting the deal he signed with South Korea earlier this week.

Trump is also repeating his claims that China is trying to meddle in the upcoming midterm elections because they oppose his tough trade policies.

He says, "they would like to see me lose an election because they've never been challenged like this."

Trump is addressing a roomful of hundreds of reporters from U.S. and international media organizations in a sweltering hotel ballroom.</s>By Catherine Lucey and Jill Colvin | Associated Press

WASHINGTON — An agitated President Donald Trump acknowledged Wednesday that past accusations of sexual misconduct against him have influenced the way he views similar charges against other men, including his Supreme Court nominee.

Wading into the #MeToo moment, Trump said he views such accusations “differently” because he’s “had a lot of false charges made against me.” He made the comments at a news conference in New York a day before Judge Brett Kavanaugh was set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee amid multiple accusations of sexual misconduct.

In addition, the president defended his work to settle a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying he has given up nothing but his time during a June summit yet stands on the cusp of denuclearizing the North.

Trump told reporters that despite tough U.S. sanctions against the North staying in place, he believes that Kim wants to get a deal done because of their close relationship.

“We have a very good relationship. He likes me, I like him, we get along,” Trump said. “He wants to make a deal and I’d like to make a deal.”

He wouldn’t put a timeframe, however, on when the two leaders might settle the standoff.

Trump also made the stunning claim that former President Barack Obama told Trump that Obama was “very close” to going to war with the North.

“If I wasn’t elected,” Trump said, “you’d be in a war.”

While Trump pledged to listen to the testimony of Kavanaugh’s accuser and even said he was open to changing his mind about his nominee, he made clear that he was deeply skeptical of these types of accusations.

“It’s happened to me many times,” Trumps said, claiming he’d been accused — falsely — by “four or five women.”

In fact, more than a dozen women came forward during the 2016 campaign, claiming they were assaulted, groped or kissed without consent by Trump. Trump was also caught on tape in 2005 boasting of grabbing women by their genitals and kissing them without permission.

During the free-wheeling news conference, Trump continued to lash out at Democrats and label the allegations against Kavanaugh politically motivated. He also expressed frustrations with the delays in the process guided by Republicans and took a shot at attorney Michael Avenatti, who is representing the latest accuser.

Trump’s remarks underscored the complexity of the moment, as Republicans seek to continue their efforts to install conservatives on the high court. While Republicans want to move forward, they are mindful of the fallout if they don’t take the accusations seriously. Should the effort fail, the party would likely explode in finger-pointing that could have implications in the November elections.

“Republican senators have delayed this for weeks now,” Trump said. “They are giving the women a major chance to speak.”

He added: “It’s possible that I’ll hear that and I’ll say I’m changing my mind.”

Kavanaugh and his chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school, are both expected to testify. Ford has claimed that Kavanaugh tried to remove her clothes and clamped a hand over her mouth at a party when both were in high school.

Another woman came forward over the weekend, telling The New Yorker magazine that Kavanaugh exposed himself and caused her to touch his penis at a party when both were Yale freshmen. And on Wednesday, a woman represented by Avenatti — who shot to fame as the attorney taking on the president for porn actress Stormy Daniels — made another accusation of misconduct.

Kavanaugh has steadfastly denied all the allegations.

Trump, who initially supported giving Ford time to speak, showed his rising frustration Wednesday. Speaking to reporters at the United Nations earlier in the day, he said Senate Republicans “could have pushed it through 2½ weeks ago.”

Trump said that if lawmakers had moved faster, “you wouldn’t be talking about it right now, which is frankly what I would have preferred.”

Asked about the decision to have a veteran Arizona prosecutor handle the questioning in the Judiciary Committee, Trump said Senate Republicans “could not be nicer” and “could not be more respectful.” Trump said he was “OK with that,” but again defended Kavanaugh as a “gem” and said Democrats are treating him unfairly.

Trump also turned his fire directly on Avenatti, tweeting that he was a “third rate lawyer” pushing “false accusations” against Kavanaugh and himself. Avenatti tweeted back, calling Trump a “habitual liar and complete narcissist who also is a disgrace as a president and an embarrassment to our nation.”

In recent days, the president has grown increasingly frustrated with the handling of the claims against Kavanaugh, said a person familiar with his views who was not authorized to discuss private conversations publicly. After Kavanaugh appeared on Fox News to plead his case Monday, Trump expressed concerns that he did not defend himself more vigorously.

While Trump has wondered if he was well-advised to choose Kavanaugh, he now believes Republicans must fight back harder, mindful of the message it would send to his supporters if the GOP-controlled Senate cannot help him get another conservative jurist on the high court.

The president also expressed his support for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and that he may delay a highly anticipated meeting with the Justice Department’s No. 2 official.

Trump said Rosenstein denied making remarks first attributed to him in a New York Times report, including that he had discussed possibly secretly recording the president and using the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

“I would much prefer keeping Rod Rosenstein,” Trump said at a news conference in New York. “He said he did not say it. He said he does not believe that.”

Trump added: “My preference would be to keep him and to let him finish up.”</s>President Donald Trump called Michael Avenatti a “third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations” after the attorney released an affidavit from a client who claims she witnessed Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh be “present” during “gang rapes” at parties in the early 1980s.

Avenatti’s client, identified as Julie Swetnick, further alleges she was the victim of one of these gang rapes during which Kavanaugh was on hand in 1982, when he was in high school.

Fox News reported that Kavanaugh responded to the latest allegation saying, “This is ridiculous and from ‘The Twilight Zone.’ I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”

Trump blasted Avenatti on Twitter, writing that he “is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships — a total low-life!

TRENDING: Maryland Police Will Not Investigate 2nd Kavanaugh Allegation Despite Contradictory Reports

Swetnick’s accusation follows one by Christine Blasey Ford who claimed Kavanaugh held her down on a bed and groped and tried to take her clothes off during a high school party, which she believes likely occurred in the summer of 1982.

Additionally, another woman, Deborah Ramirez, says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party at Yale University in the early 1980s, according to Fox News.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina shared Trump’s view that the latest allegation presented by Avenatti needs to be viewed with a high level of skepticism.

“I have a difficult time believing any person would continue to go to — according to the affidavit — 10 parties over a two-year period where women were routinely gang raped and not report it,” Graham tweeted.

Avenatt fired back via Twitter. “.@realDonaldTrump @ChuckGrassley @LindseyGrahamSC — Are you three privileged, white men calling my client Julie a liar? How dare you attack a sexual assault victim. She has risked her life to do the right thing. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Your actions are disgraceful.”

In another tweet, the attorney wrote Trump “pretends he is a tough guy,” but “he is nothing of the kind.”

RELATED: As Nation Focuses on Kavanaugh, Stormy Suit Is Being Shredded by Judge

“That is why the majority of America & the UN laughs at him,” Avenatti added.

According to Fox News, Trump told reporters at the United Nations in New York he is hopeful all the late-breaking controversy and allegations regarding Kavanaugh will be over in a few days and that he will confirmed and become a “Supreme Court justice who will go down as one of our greatest ever.”

Currently, a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination is set for Friday, with a vote of the full Senate to follow early next week.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>President Donald Trump called Michael Avenatti a “third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations” after the attorney released an affidavit from a client who claims she witnessed Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh be “present” during “gang rapes” at parties in the early 1980s.

Avenatti’s client, identified as Julie Swetnick, further alleges she was the victim of one of these gang rapes during which Kavanaugh was on hand in 1982, when he was in high school.

Fox News reported that Kavanaugh responded to the latest allegation saying, “This is ridiculous and from ‘The Twilight Zone.’ I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”

Trump blasted Avenatti on Twitter, writing that he “is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships — a total low-life!

TRENDING: Maryland Police Will Not Investigate 2nd Kavanaugh Allegation Despite Contradictory Reports

Swetnick’s accusation follows one by Christine Blasey Ford who claimed Kavanaugh held her down on a bed and groped and tried to take her clothes off during a high school party, which she believes likely occurred in the summer of 1982.

Additionally, another woman, Deborah Ramirez, says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party at Yale University in the early 1980s, according to Fox News.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina shared Trump’s view that the latest allegation presented by Avenatti needs to be viewed with a high level of skepticism.

“I have a difficult time believing any person would continue to go to — according to the affidavit — 10 parties over a two-year period where women were routinely gang raped and not report it,” Graham tweeted.

Avenatt fired back via Twitter. “.@realDonaldTrump @ChuckGrassley @LindseyGrahamSC — Are you three privileged, white men calling my client Julie a liar? How dare you attack a sexual assault victim. She has risked her life to do the right thing. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Your actions are disgraceful.”

In another tweet, the attorney wrote Trump “pretends he is a tough guy,” but “he is nothing of the kind.”

RELATED: As Nation Focuses on Kavanaugh, Stormy Suit Is Being Shredded by Judge

“That is why the majority of America & the UN laughs at him,” Avenatti added.

According to Fox News, Trump told reporters at the United Nations in New York he is hopeful all the late-breaking controversy and allegations regarding Kavanaugh will be over in a few days and that he will confirmed and become a “Supreme Court justice who will go down as one of our greatest ever.”

Currently, a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination is set for Friday, with a vote of the full Senate to follow early next week.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
President Donald Trump says he believes Kavanaugh after seeing him testify on the sexual assault allegation, citing his remarks as "powerful, honest, and riveting."