 Sitting beside the President of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez, President Donald Trump said the two on-record accusations of sexual assault and misconduct made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh were “a con game being played by the Democrats.” 
 
 “As the President of a great country, Colombia, you must say, ‘How is this possible?’” Trump asked the Colombian president. “And now a new charge comes up and she said, well, it might not be him, and there were gaps, and she said she was totally inebriated and she was all messed up and she doesn’t know it was him, but it might have been him? “She admits that she was drunk. She admits time lapses.” 
 
 The president dismissed the notion that the allegation could be disqualifying, saying sarcastically: “Oh, gee, let’s not make him a Supreme Court judge because of that.” 
 
 Trump’s charged rhetoric against his nominee’s accusers came as Republicans quickly closed ranks around Kavanaugh, even as a handful of pivotal swing votes remained quiet on whether they would ultimately support his confirmation in the coming days. Trump and Republican leaders are accusing Democrats of a smear campaign by using accusations by two women of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh in the 1980s to try scuttling his Senate confirmation. Mitchell has been recognized in the legal community for her experience and objectivity.” 
 
 Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegation from Ramirez, as well as the accusation from Christine Blasey Ford, who told The Washington Post that he sexually assaulted her when they were high school students in Maryland. Deborah Ramirez has said Kavanaugh forced her to touch his penis during a Yale dormitory party when both were freshmen. Kavanaugh and his initial accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, will testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
– President Trump amped up the rhetoric Tuesday by calling Democrats "con artists" and saying Brett Kavanaugh's second accuser "has nothing" on the Supreme Court nominee, USA Today reports. "She admits that she was drunk," says Trump of Deborah Ramirez, who accuses Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a drunken dormitory party years ago. "She admits time lapses." Talking Points Memo notes that Trump was at UN headquarters in New York with the president of Colombia, Ivan Marquez, when he said, "As the president of a great country, Colombia, you must say, 'How is this possible?' Thirty-six years ago and nobody ever knew about it, nobody ever heard about it?” "And now a new charge comes up and she said, well, it might not be him, and there were gaps, and she said she was totally inebriated and she was all messed up and she doesn’t know it was him, but it might have been him?" adds Trump. "Oh gee, let’s not make him a Supreme Court judge because of that?" Of the Democrats, he says: "They’re really con artists. They don’t believe it themselves. They're playing a con game, and they play it very well." Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Ramirez could testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday—the same day Christine Ford plans to speak—and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who remains undecided on Kavanaugh, suggests she supports a full FBI investigation, per the AP.