After a full day of testimony from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman who accused the judge of sexually assaulting her, President Donald Trump championed his pick.
“Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting,” the President tweeted Thursday evening. “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!”
Ford has accused Kavanaugh of pushing her into a bedroom at a party when they were teenagers and trying to rape her. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied all of her allegations, as well as the allegations made against him by two other women in recent days. Both Ford and Kavanaugh sat through hours of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as an outside prosecutor who Republicans hired to ask questions on Thursday.
During her portion of the hearing, Ford spoke emotionally and described her allegations, as well as the trauma she says she has endured, in detail. Kavanaugh began his testimony with significant anger in his voice and often appeared defiant while answering senators’ questions.
White House officials also told TIME that they thought Kavanaugh’s performance was “nothing short of spectacular” and would convince Republican senators to vote for him.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on whether to confirm Kavanaugh for Friday.
While Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats have called for the vote to be delayed, Republican committee members have so far refused to move it.
