Trump said Brett Kavanaugh \'should start suing people\' over new sexual harassment allegation

President Donald Trump tweeted in support of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of a new allegation of sexual harassment against him. 

In a pair of tweets posted about 30 minutes apart Sunday morning, Trump railed against "Radical Left Democrats" and "the LameStream Media," hours after The New York Times reported Saturday that a former college classmate of Kavanaugh tried to tip off US senators and the FBI last year to another previously unreported sexual misconduct allegation.

Trump didn't specifically mention the report but echoed his previous comments dismissing discussions about his own impeachment.

"Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment," he wrote. "He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him.

"They want to scare him into turning Liberal," Trump added.

Former housing secretary and Democratic 2020 hopeful Julian Castro had previously called for Kavanaugh to be impeached over the incident, tweeting that "It's more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath" and "Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter."

Only one justice has been impeached: Justice Samuel Chase went through the process in 1805 before he was ultimately acquitted by the Senate. 

In a second tweet, Trump called for the Justice Department to come to Kavanaugh's defense and said Kavanaugh should "start suing people" over the reported accounts, which Trump waved off as "false accusations" and "lies."

"Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue," Trump wrote. "The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False Accusations without recrimination. When does it stop?"

The president also confusingly said that an unidentified "They" were "trying to influence [Kavanugh's] opinions. Can't let that happen!"

 

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about Trump's tweet. 

The president's tweet came after The New York Times reported that Max Stier, a former Yale student said he saw Kavanaugh at a drunken dorm party where his friends pushed his penis into a female student's hands. Kavanaugh was reportedly a freshman at the time of the incident.

Stier's account bears similarities to an allegation made by Deborah Ramirez, another Yale classmate who accused Kavanaugh of pulling his pants down and thrusting his penis in her face at a different dorm party.

Stier declined to discuss the allegation with The Times, but the reporters said they corroborated details of the story with two officials who spoke about the matter with Stier.

GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel doubled down on Trump's tweeting fury, as she wrote on Twitter that the story, because of Stier's refusal to speak with the Times, was "journalistically indefensible," even though it was corroborated. 

Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court last October after a tumultuous battle over the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct he faced. This latest allegation was reported to the FBI during the confirmation process last year but was not investigated by the agency, according to the Times.

Kavanaugh adamantly denied Ford's and Ramirez's allegations and declined to answer The Times reporters' questions about Stier's story.