Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Monday took to cable news to offer another forceful defense against allegations of sexual assault from his time in high school and college that are imperiling his odds of ascending to the Supreme Court.
"I'm not going anywhere," Kavanaugh told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum in a pre-recorded interview with his wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, that is set to air later Monday.
The broadcast marks the most extraordinary escalation yet of the full-court press by the White House and congressional Republicans to salvage Kavanaugh's nomination. He is already set to testify before senators later this week on the allegations.
"I want a fair process where I can defend my integrity," Kavanaugh told MacCallum. "I know I'm telling the truth. I know my lifelong record and I'm not going to let false accusations drive me out of this process. I have faith in God and I have faith in the fairness of the American people."
Kavanaugh has been accused by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford of drunkenly forcing himself on her at a house party in Maryland more than 30 years ago, when he was in high school. Another woman, Deborah Ramirez, told The New Yorker in a report published Sunday evening that Kavanaugh "thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent," during a drunken dormitory party when Kavanaugh was a student at Yale University.
"The truth is I've never sexually assaulted anyone, in high school or otherwise," Kavanaugh said on Fox. "I am not questioning and have not questioned that perhaps Dr. Ford at some point in her life was sexually assaulted by someone at some place, but what I know is I've never sexually assaulted anyone."
In an effort to refute the allegations, Kavanaugh also said he was a virgin throughout high school.
"I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter," he said. "And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends."
"And through what years in college, since we're probing into your personal life?" MacCallum asked.
"Many years after," Kavanaugh said. "I'll leave it at that. Many years after."
There appears to be no immediate historical parallel by a Supreme Court nominee for Kavanaugh's last-minute but heavily orchestrated appearance on Fox News, which was announced by the network Monday afternoon.
President Donald Trump, who is in New York to attend the 73rd annual session of the U.N. General Assembly, plugged the Kavanaughs' appearance Monday evening on Twitter. "This is an outstanding family who must be treated fairly!" he wrote.
Though no contenders for the high court in recent memory have gone to such public and personal lengths to defend their credibility outside the hearing room of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the framing of Kavanaugh's sit-down does bear a political resemblance to Bill and Hillary Clinton's 1992 interview with "60 Minutes" following allegations from Gennifer Flowers of sexual impropriety by the then-presidential candidate.
"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 and defend my integrity my lifelong record," Kavanaugh said on Fox. "My lifelong record of promoting dignity and equality for women starting with the women who knew me when I was 14 years old."
The studios of Fox News have largely been friendly territory for Trump during high-stakes episodes of his administration, so it's no surprise that the White House turned to the president's favorite network when it came time to bolster public support for his embattled Supreme Court pick.
Trump in July hired former Fox News executive Bill Shine as White House communications director, following Shine's ousting from the company in May 2017 over his handling of sexual harassment claims.
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