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.<\/b>
\nThe following is a partial transcript of the interview with Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee, and his wife, Ashley, on \u201cThe Story with Martha MacCallum.\u201d 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\u2019m asking for is fairness and that I\u2019d be heard in this process.
MS. MacCALLUM: Ashley, what has this been like for you the past couple of weeks? I know you\u2019ve had death threats and all kinds of things coming your way. What \u2014 how does that feel?
ASHLEY KAVANAUGH: This process is incredibly difficult. It\u2019s 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\u2019re on the right path. And we\u2019re just going to stick to it, so.
MS. MacCALLUM: So let me \u2014 let\u2019s get in to some of these allegations, because you\u2019ve responded to them in statements, but you haven\u2019t had a chance to respond them \u2014 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\u2019ve raped her if Mark Judge hadn\u2019t climbed on top and everyone tumbled to the floor. And then she had an opportunity to get away.
Now, she doesn\u2019t remember the date and she doesn\u2019t remember the place. But what she does remember that I just detailed, is very specific.
And other assault victims say that they\u2019ve had similar memories where they remembered exactly what happened but they didn\u2019t 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\u2019ve always treated women with dignity and respect.
Listen to the people who\u2019ve 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 \u2014
***
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 \u2014
MS. MacCALLUM: You don\u2019t 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\u2019s lifelong friend has said she doesn\u2019t know me and never remembers being at a party with me at any time in her life.
***
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\u2019ve 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\u2019ve never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any time in my life \u2014
***
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\u2019ve know him for 17 years. And this is not at all character; it\u2019s really hard to believe. He\u2019s decent, he\u2019s kind, he\u2019s good. I know his heart. This is not consistent with \u2014 with Brett.
MS. MacCALLUM: And now over the weekend you\u2019ve gotten new allegations. And obviously these other allegations, they say that they are standing up basically in support of Christine Ford, that they wouldn\u2019t have come forward otherwise, but they don\u2019t 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: \u201cBrett was laughing, I can still see his face and his hips coming forward like when you pull up your pants. I\u2019m confident about the pants coming up, and I\u2019m confident about Brett being there.\u201d
She was initially uncertain it was you, they write in this piece, but after six days she\u2019s confident enough, she says. Should the American people view her as credible?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I never did any such thing \u2014 never did any such thing. The other people alleged to be there don\u2019t recall any such thing. If such as thing had a happened, it would\u2019ve been the talk of campus. The women I knew in college and the men I knew in college said that it\u2019s unconceivable that I could\u2019ve done such a thing.
***
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 \u2014 I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit, but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re talking about.
We\u2019re talking about an allegation of sexual assault. I\u2019ve 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 \u2014
MS. MacCALLUM: So you\u2019re saying that through all these years that are in question, you were a virgin?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: That\u2019s 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\u2019re probing into your personally life here?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: Many years after. I\u2019ll leave it at that.
***
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 \u2014 was there ever a time that you drank so much that you couldn\u2019t remember what happened the night before?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: No, that never happened.
MS. MacCALLUM: You never said to anyone, \u201cI don\u2019t remember anything about last night\u201d?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: No, that did not happen.
***
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\u2019s nothing to worry about and nothing to hide, why not have that process, Ashley? And then I\u2019ll ask you that, Brett.
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I mean, I\u2019ve 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, \u201cI want a hearing tomorrow,\u201d last Tuesday, a week ago.
I want an opportunity \u2014 a fair process. America\u2019s 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 \u2014 Senator Mazie Hirono and then you hear from others, you know, the New York Senator Gillibrand, she says: \u201cI believe this woman. I believe all of them. They\u2019re credible, and we all have to believe them.\u201d
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. We hear from both sides. I\u2019ve spent my life in the judiciary, the \u2014 our judicial system, and part of the judicial systems as I\u2019ve said during my first \u2014 my hearing was process protection. That\u2019s what judges believe that\u2019s what our system was built on, the rule of law, about fair process.
MS. MacCALLUM: Do you feel unprotected by the process?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: Fair process means hearing from both sides, and I think the process \u2014 I want to have an opportunity to defend my integrity and clear my name and have a fair process. A fair process at a minimum \u2014 at a bare minimum requires hearing from both sides before rushing \u2014
MS. MacCALLUM: Right. Let me ask you this. Separately from these allegations, is it fair to judge someone on something they did before they were 18 years old? When they were 17 years old? Should anything they did then follow them later in life, or should it enter into any decisions made about them later in life?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: What I\u2019m here to do is tell you the truth, and this allegation from 36 years ago is not \u2014
MS. MacCALLUM: But separately from what you\u2019re being accused of just as a judge, if you were looking at this case as a part of what you\u2019re going through and someone said, \u201cThis person did that at 17 years old,\u201d is it fair to judge them on something that when they\u2019re in their 50s, 60s?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I think everyone is judged on their whole life. I\u2019m a good person. I\u2019ve led a good life. I\u2019ve tried to do a lot of good for a lot of people. I am not perfect, I know that. None of us is perfect. I\u2019m not perfect, but I\u2019ve never, never done anything like this.
MS. MacCALLUM: So in terms of the process now and what happens now, when you look at how all of this \u2014 where all this generated from, do you have thoughts? Is this about Roe v. Wade? Is this about people who initially right off the bat said they wanted to see you never take the spot on the Supreme Court? Where\u2019s all this coming from?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I just want a fair process where I can be heard.
MS. MacCALLUM: You don\u2019t have any thoughts on what\u2019s \u2014 where this is coming from?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I just want a fair process where I can be heard, defend my integrity, defend the integrity of my family. I\u2019ve \u2014 I\u2019m telling the truth.
MS. MacCALLUM: You don\u2019t want to talk about where you think this is coming from?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I just want an opportunity, a fair process where I can defend my integrity.
MS. MacCALLUM: All right. Ashley how\u2019s this spin for the girls, for your family? What have you guys \u2014 give us whatever window you feel comfortable saying about what this has been like for you as a family?
MS. KAVANAUGH: This \u2014 it\u2019s very difficult. It\u2019s very difficult these conversations with your children, which we\u2019ve had to have some broader terms for our youngest. But they know Brett. And they know the truth. And we told them at the very beginning of this process this will be not fun sometimes. You\u2019re going to hear things that, people feel strongly, and you need to know that. And just remember you know your dad.
MS. MacCALLUM: Did you guys ever look at each other and say: \u201cI\u2019m out, this is enough. This just isn\u2019t worth it\u201d?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I\u2019m not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process. And we\u2019re looking for a fair process where I can be heard and defend the \u2014 my integrity, my lifelong record \u2014 my lifelong record of promoting dignity and equality, starting with the women who knew me when I was 14 years old. I\u2019m not going anywhere.
MS. MacCALLUM: Do you believe that President Trump is going to stand by you throughout?
JUDGE KAVANAUGH: I know he\u2019s going to stand by me. He called me this afternoon, and he said he\u2019s standing by me.
MS. MacCALLUM: All right. Thank you both very much. Good to speak with you today. Thanks for taking the time.
MS. KAVANAUGH: Thank you.<\/p>\n

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