Brett Kavanaugh hit with more sexual assault allegations

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Brett Kavanaugh hit with more sexual assault allegations

The 'Special Report' All-Star panel breaks down the Kavanaugh confirmation showdown.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," September 24, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: The truth is I've never sexually assaulted anyone, in high school or otherwise. I am not questioning and have not questioned that perhaps Dr. Ford at some point in her life was sexually assaulted by someone in someplace, but what I know is I've never sexually assaulted anyone.

I'm not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process. And we're looking for a fair process where I can be heard in defending my integrity and my lifelong record, my lifelong record of promoting dignity and equality for women, starting with the women who knew me when I was 14 years old. I'm not going anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his wife speaking exclusively to Martha MacCallum. You'll see that full interview in the next hour on "The Story."

Let's bring in our panel: Chris Stirewalt is politics editor here at Fox News; Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist; and Dan Balz, national political correspondent at The Washington Post.

Dan, obviously the White House, Judge Kavanaugh saying this is a fight and they are engaged, which is why he's coming out.

DAN BALZ, THE WASHINGTON POST: Totally. And this is not a legal proceeding that we are involved in. This is a political process, this is a confirmation hearing, and that's what's going to play out this week. There are two courts of public opinion. One is the public at large and how they come away after Thursday in determining which person they believe more. But it's also a court of public opinion of a handful of senators who ultimately will decide Judge Kavanaugh fate. And I think that he is attempting to reach both of those audiences with what he did today with the interview with you all, and more importantly what he will do Thursday when it's televised nationally for all the world to see.

BAIER: Mollie?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: This has been a really interesting last couple of days. You had an allegation that came out last week that didn't have any support for it but seemed like it could be possible. And then in the last couple of days you had another accusation come out, one that is disputed by dozens of people, other media outlets -- each subsequent allegation is somehow less credible than the first one, and yet they are being treated as if they're reasonable by the media.

I think what you are starting to see is a really big pushback in that court of public opinion. It is maybe not a legal proceeding, but we have a value in this country that people are presumed innocent until they are proven to be guilty. This hasn't even come remotely near proven guilt. It hasn't even come to the standard of being able to make a case in a court of law.

And so I think people have these deeply ingrained American ideas that you don't actually get to destroy man, destroy his career, destroy his life, destroy his relationship with his wife and his children, if you don't actually have the goods or substantiating reasons to do so.

BAIER: The president, Democrats and Republicans, weighing in today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Judge Kavanaugh is an outstanding person. And I am with him all the way. People come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago and 30 years ago, it's totally political.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO, D-HAWAII: If there's any group that is very motivated politically, I'd say it's the Republicans who are stonewalling an investigation that would and should occur otherwise.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY.: This shameful, shameful smear campaign has hit a new low. Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor. Up or down. On the Senate floor. This fine nominee to the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BAIER: Senator Majority Leader McConnell, that's about as fired up as he gets on the Senate floor today. That's an 11 for Senator McConnell. The latest allegation came out in The New Yorker. The New York Times ran a piece today which said that The Times had interviewed several dozen people over the past week in an attempt to corroborate her story, that accuser, and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ms. Ramirez herself contacted former Yale classmates asking if they recalled the incident and told some of them that she could not be certain Mr. Kavanagh was the one who exposed himself. This latest allegation or accuser seems to have at least in part galvanized some of the Republicans to say, hey, wait a second.

CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS: I have edited a lot of stories. I have written a lot of stories. I've been in a process here and at other places throughout my career. I was shocked, shocked, shocked, when I read that New Yorker story. That was a hot round, and coming in at the time that it did, that was a mighty big matzoh ball to put out there, especially at this point.

And then it occurred to me. It never would have happened without the first accusation. That story, even The New Yorker, even Ronan Farrow, there's no circumstance under which if that came to The New Yorker, without the first allegation that that ever would have been discussed. And the fact that -- the way this is working out, it's stacking up in the Democrats favor in this sense. The longer it lasts, the longer it goes on, the more of these you get. And you'll get the next one. And how we are Michael Avenatti has one, and there will be more of these that go on. And the desire will be that by the time you get to Thursday it won't really matter because there will be just this plume around him.

BAIER: But Dan, when you talk strictly politics, you look at the Gallup poll that was out today on unfavorable/unfavorable of the Republican Party. It's actually up on the favorable. It's the highest it's been since 2011. You would think how it's being portrayed that perhaps the Republicans are in total chaos they will lose everything, and they still could, but at least in this bowl and in others that say excitement is there, it seems like it's going the other way.

BALZ: I don't know if it's going the other way, Bret. That poll is interesting for what it does show in the favorability of the party being up at this point. I think there are a lot of conflicting currents going on right now, and people are going to in some ways -- at least some people are going to sit back and wait to make judgments. They will do that between now and Election Day.

BAIER: Thursday will be a big part of that?

BALZ: Thursday will be a very, very important part of that. But as we learned, every week is a new week in this administration. And by the time we get to November 6th, who knows what other events will intervene? But there's no question that this is a very important week in shaping opinions for different groups of voters and how the two perform will be more important, frankly than any news story or magazine story that has been published up to now.

BAIER: Mollie, I watched this interview that Martha did, and it's really compelling to watch it in its entirety, to hear from both of them, the judge and his wife. We didn't know that we're going down the road of his sexual activity, or lack of it, but here's a piece of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS: So you are saying that through all these years that are question you were a virgin?

KAVANAUGH: That's correct.

MACCALLUM: Never had sexual intercourse with anyone in high school?

KAVANAUGH: Correct.

MACCALLUM: And through what years in college since we're probing into your personal --

KAVANAUGH: Many years after, I will leave it at that. Many years after.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: He goes on point by point denying it. Obviously sexual assault, and these allegations, that doesn't factor in, but here we are.

HEMINGWAY: Here's what was so interesting. When this first allegation came out, he was unequivocal that he knew that this had not been done by him. And it was kind of a weird thing to see somebody be so unequivocal that he was innocent of the charge. He didn't leave any room, any gray area. And now he's coming out and saying to people on the left who are trying to bring him down with accusations that have not been substantiated that he's not going away, he's not going to make it easy for them. He will not be bullied.

He's also sending a message to those people, those senators on the right who might wish he would take this problem out of their hands by removing his name. He seems to care more about his name and his reputation than he even does about the Supreme Court nomination, and that is something that is so rare to see in this environment, someone who cares about character and his honor, and it's coming through.

BAIER: Chris, if you can't be on the Supreme Court because you are an alleged sexual assault person, then how can you be on the First Court of Appeals?

STIREWALT: You can't. You can't. And the argument here that Kavanaugh doesn't have that much to lose, he's got a lifetime job, that doesn't hold water. He has an enormous amount of those beyond the reputation. His life, liberty, and sacred honor that Mollie is talking about. He also has a job to lose, because if he did commit sexual assault, he cannot serve and he should be impeached as a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals, and that's why the stakes not just politically, but for the human beings involved here this week and this Thursday are enormous.

BAIER: Massive.

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