Former President George W. Bush remains supportive of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, amid an accusation of his alleged sexual misconduct three decades ago, Politico reported.
In a statement to the news outlet, Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush have “known and respected” the jurist “for decades.”
“We stand by our comments the night Judge Kavanaugh was nominated,” he stated.
Bush had previously lauded Kavanaugh as “a fine husband, father, and friend – and a man of the highest integrity,” and declared: “He will make a superb Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Kavanaugh worked for Bush as an associate counsel and then staff secretary in the White House, where he met his wife Ashley, who was Bush’s personal secretary. Bush appointed Kavanaugh in 2006 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit.
His confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, was upended last Sunday, when California research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford stepped forward to identify herself as the writer of an anonymous letter to California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein alleging that as a teenager, Kavanaugh forcibly groped her and tried to remove her clothes in a bedroom at a party.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and agreed to testify before the Senate Sept. 24.