KAVANAUGH HEARINGS | Judge issues new statement amid assault claim

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has arrived at the White House amid scrutiny of a woman’s claim he sexually assaulted her at a party when they were in high school.

Kavanaugh went to the West Wing on Monday shortly after issuing a strongly worded statement denying the woman’s allegation and stressing his willingness to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee to “refute” it.

It’s unclear with whom he’s meeting.

The White House is standing behind Kavanaugh as the allegation threatens his nomination.

The woman, Christine Blasey Ford, came forward Sunday in an interview with The Washington Post to say a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.

In the new White House statement today from the nominee, he calls the claim “completely false.” Kavanaugh says he never did what the accuser describes “to her or anyone.”

Kavanaugh says in the statement he “had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself.”

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Blasey Ford “should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.”

She says that’s up to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Conway told reporters Monday the accuser should “not be ignored or insulted.”

Conway says Kavanaugh also should testify to the allegations, noting he has already provided testimony and has undergone FBI background checks.