Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, sat down with Martha MacCallum of Fox News to discuss the sexual assault accusations that have been raised since his nomination to the Supreme Court.
The following is a partial transcript of the interview with Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee, and his wife, Ashley, on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” The transcript was provided by Fox News and edited for length.
MARTHA MacCALLUM: Thank you both for sitting down with me today. What made you decide to speak out before the hearing on Thursday? Judge Kavanaugh?
JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH: I am looking for a fair process, a process where I can defend my integrity and clear my name. And all I’m asking for is fairness and that I’d be heard in this process.
MS. MacCALLUM: Ashley, what has this been like for you the past couple of weeks? I know you’ve had death threats and all kinds of things coming your way. What — how does that feel?
ASHLEY KAVANAUGH: This process is incredibly difficult. It’s harder than we imagined, and we imagined it might be hard. But at the end of the day, our faith is strong, and we know that we’re on the right path. And we’re just going to stick to it, so.
MS. MacCALLUM: So let me — let’s get in to some of these allegations, because you’ve responded to them in statements, but you haven’t had a chance to respond them — to them in a fuller way.
And Christine Ford is expected to testify on Thursday that you at a party in high school pinned her to a bed, held your hand over her mouth. She said she was afraid that she could inadvertently be killed at that moment.
She said that you tried to take off her clothes, and she believes that you would’ve raped her if Mark Judge hadn’t climbed on top and everyone tumbled to the floor. And then she had an opportunity to get away.
Now, she doesn’t remember the date and she doesn’t remember the place. But what she does remember that I just detailed, is very specific.
And other assault victims say that they’ve had similar memories where they remembered exactly what happened but they didn’t necessarily remember the events surrounding it. You have categorically denied that this happened. Did anything happen?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: No. I had never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever. I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect.
Listen to the people who’ve known me best through my whole life, the women who have known me since high school, the 65 who overnight signed a letter from high school saying I always treated them with dignity and respect —
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MS. MacCALLUM: This Christine Ford, do you know her?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I may have met her, we did not travel in the same social circle, she was not a friend, not someone I knew —
MS. MacCALLUM: You don’t remember ever being at parties with her ever?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I do not. And this is an allegation about a party in the summer of 1982 at a house near Connecticut Avenue and East-West Highway with five people present.
I was never at any such party. The other people who are alleged to be present have said they do not remember any such party. A woman who was present, another woman who was present who is Dr. Ford’s lifelong friend has said she doesn’t know me and never remembers being at a party with me at any time in her life.
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MS. MacCALLUM: So, where do you think this is coming from? Why would she make this up?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: What I know is the truth. And the truth is, I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or otherwise. I am not questioning and have not questioned that perhaps Dr. Ford at some point in her life was sexually assaulted by someone in some place. But what I know is I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any time in my life —
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MS. MacCALLUM: Let me ask Ashley, when this came out what did you say to your husband? Did you question him and have moments where you wondered if he was telling you the truth?
MS. KAVANAUGH: No. I know Brett. I’ve know him for 17 years. And this is not at all character; it’s really hard to believe. He’s decent, he’s kind, he’s good. I know his heart. This is not consistent with — with Brett.
MS. MacCALLUM: And now over the weekend you’ve gotten new allegations. And obviously these other allegations, they say that they are standing up basically in support of Christine Ford, that they wouldn’t have come forward otherwise, but they don’t want her to be made to look like a liar. And Deborah Ramirez was a freshman at Yale. She says she was at a dorm party and this happened, quote: “Brett was laughing, I can still see his face and his hips coming forward like when you pull up your pants. I’m confident about the pants coming up, and I’m confident about Brett being there.”
She was initially uncertain it was you, they write in this piece, but after six days she’s confident enough, she says. Should the American people view her as credible?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I never did any such thing — never did any such thing. The other people alleged to be there don’t recall any such thing. If such as thing had a happened, it would’ve been the talk of campus. The women I knew in college and the men I knew in college said that it’s unconceivable that I could’ve done such a thing.
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JUDGE KAVANAUGH: And yes, there were parties. And the drinking age was 18, and yes, the seniors were legal and had beer there. And yes, people might have had too many beers on occasion and people generally in high school — I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit, but that’s not what we’re talking about.
We’re talking about an allegation of sexual assault. I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone. I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends —
MS. MacCALLUM: So you’re saying that through all these years that are in question, you were a virgin?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: That’s correct.
MS. MacCALLUM: Never had sexual intercourse with anyone in high school?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: Correct.
MS. MacCALLUM: And through what years in college since we’re probing into your personally life here?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: Many years after. I’ll leave it at that.
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MS. MacCALLUM: Sir, you are going to be pressed on something that you just said about people do things in high school, and you were all drinking, were there times when perhaps you drank so much — was there ever a time that you drank so much that you couldn’t remember what happened the night before?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: No, that never happened.
MS. MacCALLUM: You never said to anyone, “I don’t remember anything about last night”?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: No, that did not happen.
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MS. MacCALLUM: Do you believe there should be an F. B. I. investigation into these allegations and that a pause should happen and, you know, sort it all out? If there’s nothing to worry about and nothing to hide, why not have that process, Ashley? And then I’ll ask you that, Brett.
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I mean, I’ve said all along and Ashley, too, I want to be heard. I was first interviewed last Monday, the day after the allegation appeared by the committee staff under penalty of felony, and I denied this categorically and unequivocally and I said twice during that, I said, “I want a hearing tomorrow,” last Tuesday, a week ago.
I want an opportunity — a fair process. America’s about fairness, I want a fair process where I can defend my integrity and clear my name as quickly as I can in whatever forum the Senate deems appropriate.
MS. MacCALLUM: When you hear senators who are on the committee — Senator Mazie Hirono and then you hear from others, you know, the New York Senator Gillibrand, she says: “I believe this woman. I believe all of them. They’re credible, and we all have to believe them.”
When you hear United States senators who are making judgments, final judgments, what does that make you think about the presumption of innocence in this country?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: In America, we have fairness.
