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| United States President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the Manhattan Lotte New York Palace Hotel along with the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at in New York City on Wednesday. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
By Daniel Uria, UPI
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he believes sexual assault allegations made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are "false" and a "con job" raised by Democrats.
Speaking at a live news conference in New York City, Trump defended Kavanaugh's reputation and said he wouldn't "get into" the discussion of withdrawing Kavanaugh's nomination before he and accuser Christine Blasey Ford testify about the accusations Thursday.
"This is one of the highest quality people that I've ever met. And everybody that knows him says the same thing. And these are all false to me," Trump said. "These are false accusations in certain cases, and certain cases even the media agrees with that. I can only say that what they've done to this man is incredible."
Trump again questioned why Ford and the other two women that have made accusations against Kavanaugh -- Julie Swetnick and Deborah Ramirez -- didn't come forward sooner.
"I only say this: 36 years, no charge, no nothing," Trump said. "People are going to have to make a decision, 36 years and there's no charge."
The president also accused Democrats of carrying out a "con job" by pursuing the allegations, adding they "laugh like hell" behind closed doors about having deceived the media and the public.
Trump added he was interested in hearing Ford's testimony and was willing to withdraw his nomination if he believes he is guilty of the alleged assault.
"I'm going to see what happens tomorrow. I'm going to be watching, believe it or not," Trump said. "I'm going to see what's said. It's possible they will be convincing."
Trump said the allegations against Kavanaugh affect him due to similar allegations women have made against him, which he said were false.
"When you say does it affect me? Absolutely. Because I've had it many times," he said.
Trump also said he might delay a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein scheduled for Thursday, as not to "distract" from Kavanaugh's nomination process.
Over the weekend reports emerged that Rosenstein suggested secretly recording Trump and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, according to FBI memos.
Wednesday, Trump said Rosenstein denied saying such things and added he would prefer not to fire him.
Trump opened the news conference by discussing trade, praising his trade talks with Japan and a trade agreement with South Korea.
He also said trade negotiations with Mexico were going well, but confirmed he had rejected a meeting request from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the countries seek to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trump said he was displeased with how Canada has treated the United States in the negotiations and that the United States was "not getting along at all with their negotiators."
He also criticized the Federal Reserve's decision to raise the interest rate to to 2.25 percent Wednesday.
"Unfortunately they just raised interest rates a little bit," Trump said. "I am not happy about that."
When asked about achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Trump said he would prefer a two-state solution, but was open to a single-state option.
"If the Israelis and the Palestinians want one state that's OK with me, if they want two states that's OK with me. I'm happy if they're happy," Trump said. "I'm a facilitator, I want to see if I can get a deal done so that people don't get killed anymore.
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