Kavanaugh’s Lawyer Clashes With CNN’s John Berman: ‘You’re Trying to Malign His Character’

Beth Wilkinson, lawyer for Brett Kavanaugh, appeared on CNN Wednesday morning for a tough interview with John Berman about the sexual misconduct allegations against her client.

Berman started by asking whether the Supreme Court nominee knew Christine Blasey Ford, who accused him of assault and attempted rape at a party in high school in 1982, which Kavanaugh denies.

“They may have met,” Wilkinson said, though she insisted the specific party and incident alleged by Ford did not occur.

“It could always be possible” that Ford and Kavanaugh attended a party together, Wilkinson said. “This was 36 years ago… It’s very hard to disprove or remember exactly what you did 36 years ago, and that’s one of the reasons why he provided his calendars.”

That prompted Berman to press Wilkinson on how much Kavanaugh could claim to remember from his high school and college days, particularly given claims from one of his college friends that he was a “sloppy drunk.”

“He admits that they drank beers,” Wilkinson replied. “He admits that when he looks back that there are some things that he did that he cringes. I don’t think there’s any dispute that he drank in high school and in college, but that’s not the issue here.”

“Did he drink in excess? Did he drink to the point of being drunk?” Berman asked.

“He said on occasion he drank more beers than he should,” she said.

“And he said he did things that caused him regrets and caused him to cringe now?” Berman followed up.

Wilkinson said that comment had to do with Kavanaugh’s yearbook page, which he come under scrutiny this week.

Berman pointed out that Kavanaugh said on Fox News that he has always treated women with dignity, despite one of his high school classmates saying she found a reference to her in his yearbook page “hurtful and horrible.”

“I think you are trying to malign his character,” Wilkinson shot back.

Berman continued to press Wilkinson on Kavanaugh’s yearbook, and eventually asked about how strong his memory is of events given his drinking. He pointed out that Mark Judge, the man Ford says was in the room during her sevual assault, wrote a book with a character “Bart O’Kavanaugh” who vomited and passed out in a car from drinking.

Wilkinson denied Kavanaugh had any idea who the character was, and praised Judge for his sobriety.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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