'I am innocent of this charge:' Brett Kavanaugh denies attending 1980s party, assaulting anyone

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Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh insists he was never at the party where Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexual assault in the 1980s. Sept. 27, 2018

After four hours of testimony by his accuser on Thursday, an emotional and defiant Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh took his turn before the Senate Judiciary Committee, admitting that he often drank beer but emphatically denying that he ever assaulted anyone in his lifetime.

 "I am innocent of this charge!" Kavanaugh said, denying that he was ever at the 1982 party that Christine Blasey Ford described, where she said he groped her and that she felt he was going to rape her before she escaped.

Earlier in the day, she testified that he and a friend barricaded her in a room and Kavanaugh got on top of her and covered her mouth so she could not cry out for help.

To which Kavanaugh answered that he "never had any sexual or physical encounter of any kind" with Ford. "I never committed sexual assault," he said.  "If the mere assertion of an allegation, a refuted allegation from 36 years ago, is enough to destroy a person's life and career, we will have abandoned the basic principles of fairness and due process that define our legal system and our country." 

Read Brett Kavinaugh's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee

Kavanaugh said he is not questioning that Ford was assaulted, but he insisted emphatically and repeatedly that he never assaulted her or anyone. In fact, he teared up talking about his two daughters, who offered to pray for Ford at bedtime. He insisted he wished Ford no ill will.

Hours beforehand, however, Ford testified that she is "100 percent" certain it was Kavanaugh who attacked her.

Kavanaugh spent part of his hourlong testimony trying to take apart Ford's testimony, saying that there have been no witnesses provided that corroborate her story. He also talked at length about how many female friends he has, how many female law clerks he employs and how he coaches his girls soccer team.

At one point, tearing up again, Kavanaugh explained why he kept his calendar from 1982, which he said definitely showed he was not at any party that Ford referenced. Remembering his dad fondly, Kavanaugh said both he and his dad used calendars as part historical record and part diary. 

Speaking in anger, his voice rising early on during his opening statement, Kavanaugh took aim at the left-wing electorate.

He accused liberals, who called him "evil" and who treated his nomination as a "grotesque" circus, of being so vicious to him and his Supreme Court nomination because of their "pent up" frustration with the election of Donald Trump.

On a deeply personal note, Kavanaugh told senators the allegations have left his family and his name "totally and permanently destroyed."