Democrats Acted in ‘Evil Way Unworthy of’ U.S., Gingrich Says

Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), the former speaker of the House, excoriated Senate Democrats Thursday night on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” for behaving “in an evil way unworthy of the United States” against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (pictured above right) in the 11th hour of his confirmation process.

“This has been the most despicable behavior by a major party in modern history. This is a deliberate, vicious, character assassination — hurt the guy’s daughters, hurt his mother, hurt his wife, hurt his reputation — they didn’t care,” Gingrich said of the Thursday hearing, in which Kavanaugh testified in the afternoon and his chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford (above left), appeared in the morning.

Ford, who became the first woman on September 16 to accuse Kavanaugh publicly of sexually assaulting her, 36 years ago during a high school gathering, testified first before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who received Ford’s allegations in July, did nothing publicly with those charges until last week, days before the committee was scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the high court.

Two other women — Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick — also came forward with sexual assault accusations against Kavanaugh.

Related: Judiciary Panel Sets Friday Morning Kavanaugh Vote

Kavanaugh, who has denied all of the sexual assault allegations against him unequivocally, issued a passionate and defiant defense of his good name and character after Ford’s participation in the hearing concluded.

“You’re watching people in that panel, Democrats in that panel, who know it’s a lie — they know it’s a lie — they know the way Feinstein did this was utterly, totally despicable. And they went along,” Gingrich lamented. “My big question is, is there a single Democrat with the guts to stand up and vote for this judge because they know this is sickening?”

“I want to see whether it’s [Sen. Joe] Manchin [D-W.Va.] or [Sen. Heidi] Heitkamp [D-N.D.] or any of them — do they have the guts to stand up to the Left and say, ‘This is exactly what’s wrong with modern America, because this is a despicable act of utter character assassination by people who, frankly, have behaved in an evil way unworthy of the United States?'” he wondered.

Democrats knew what they were doing when they “deliberately created a firestorm of character assassination at the last possible moment” during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, Gingrich insisted.

“And if there’s any sense of decency,” the former speaker of the House added, “Democrats from other states ought to really, this weekend, take a little while and go pray about this. Their party has genuinely undermined and sickened the process in the United States.”

“My big question is, is there a single Democrat with the guts to stand up and vote for this judge because they know this is sickening?”

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that during the hearing, Americans were able to see what President Donald Trump “saw in Judge Kavanaugh when he first met with him and considered nominating him to the United States Supreme Court.” Kavanaugh is “a man of great self-possession and composure, who also is able to show emotion and empathy for those he feels are being wronged,” she said.

Conway said Kavanaugh spent weeks “watching and listening to people trash him where he was not able to respond — these sanctimonious pundits pontificating and prevaricating about a man they hardly know.”

“The Senate Democrats today on the judiciary committee actually were far more interested in a yearbook page by a 17-year-old boy than 300 opinions he’s authored as a man,” she said.

“But I thought today was a tour de force by Judge Kavanaugh. He put this all on his shoulders. He’s going to run for the tape and leave it out on the field in pure Trump fashion,” Conway added.

“I thought Judge Kavanaugh channeled his inner [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas and his inner Donald Trump because he’s not going to allow them to besmirch a good man’s reputation,” she continued.

Thomas fielded sexual harassment allegations from Anita Hill during his Supreme Court confirmation process in 1991.

“I’ll tell you who’s really agitated tonight, and it’s not Brett Kavanaugh,” Conway said. “You know who’s agitated? The Left because they see that Donald Trump, President Trump, could be on the precipice of having his second Supreme Court nominee confirmed.”

Related: Lindsey Graham Blasts Dems: ‘What You Want to Do Is Destroy This Guy’

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who served in former President George W. Bush’s administration, told Ingraham that he believed both Ford and Kavanaugh were “credible” during their testimonies. But he warned that mere credibility on Ford’s part shouldn’t be enough to tank Kavanaugh’s nomination without key corroborating facts.

“What kind of a country do we have if, just because someone is making an accusation and it comes across as compelling, that that’s good enough to presume guilt?” Fleischer asked. “We can’t be that country. We have to have facts. We have to have proof. We have to have evidence, otherwise no one is safe.”

Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel agreed with the idea, saying that “the bottom line” is “that every person [Ford] has named has denied that this event ever happened.”

“It’s not credibility that matters. Every day we have opposing parties that go into court or into employment disputes — both sides appear credible. We don’t make a judgment based on a popularity contest. We do it based on facts and evidence,” Strassel emphasized.

Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova also decried the lack of corroborating evidence.

“[Ford] could not provide location, time, date, place, anything that any person making a claim like this would have to provide. This was truly a remarkable moment in senatorial history,” diGenova said.

DiGenova also lambasted Senate Democrats for their treatment of Ford and her allegations, saying, “I felt sorry for her today because of the way the Democrats used her and abused her. But I felt more sorry for the daughters and the wife of Brett Kavanaugh.”