In a wide-ranging news conference, the president also says he would prefer to keep Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on the job.
WASHINGTON – An agitated President 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.
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.
Other topics Trump touched on during the news conference included:
Trump said that he would “certainly prefer not” to fire Rosenstein and that he may delay a highly anticipated meeting today with the Justice Department’s No. 2 official. Trump said Rosenstein denied making remarks first attributed to him last week 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. He said he did not say it. He said he does not believe that. He said he has a lot of respect for me, and he was very nice and we’ll see,” Trump said. “My preference would be to keep him and to let him finish up.”
Trump said he was planning to impose severe economic penalties against Canada if it does not agree to major changes in its trade policies. Trump also said he was planning to effectively terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement and impose steep tariffs on all automotive imports from Canada to the United States.
Trump’s comments came as relations between himself and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to hit a new low. The White House wanted Trudeau to agree to changes to NAFTA by this weekend, but talks stalled several days ago over a number of issues.
Canada is the United States’ largest trading partner, but Trump has accused Canadians of ripping off American workers off for years, largely because of complaints he has heard from dairy farmers in Wisconsin and New York.
Trump defended his address to the United Nations on Tuesday, asserting that the audience of foreign delegates was “laughing with me” during a moment early in the speech in which he was interrupted by audible chuckles.
“They weren’t laughing at me,” Trump said at a news conference here when asked about the episode.
