White House leakers suggested over the weekend that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is struggling with questions about his personal life in prep sessions for upcoming testimony, possibly paving the way to withdraw his nomination.
Sources familiar with the prep sessions told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh became frustrated while practicing for his testimony regarding sexual assault allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
The Post reported:
But Kavanaugh grew frustrated when it came to questions that dug into his private life, particularly his drinking habits and his sexual proclivities, according to three people familiar with the preparations, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. He declined to answer some questions altogether, saying they were too personal, these people said.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Kavanaugh said at one point according to a senior White House official, who said that the questions were designed to go over the line and that he struck the right tone.
According to the report, Kavanaugh has been in contact Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee to find out what questions he will face and to urge them to support him publicly.
"Kavanaugh has complained about the stories focusing on his family and has grown 'incredibly frustrated' at times, in the words of one associate, but he has not sought to drop out of the running, two people who spoke to him said," according to the paper.
Ironically, as an aide to Special Prosecutor Ken Starr during the Bill Clinton investigation, Kavanaugh urged him to ask the sitting president very specific and lurid questions about his sexual behavior, saying it was their function to make his pattern of bad behavior very clear. “The idea of going easy on him at the questioning is thus abhorrent to me,” he wrote.
Read the entire report here.
