Jeanine Pirro: Brett Kavanaugh Putting His Hand Over Christine Blasey Ford's Mouth Is Not Attempted Rape

By Shane Croucher On 9/20/18 at 4:22 AM EDT

U.S. Supreme Court MeToo Jeanine Pirro Sean Hannity

Jeanine Pirro has played down sexual assault claims against Brett Kavanaugh, calling Christine Blasey Ford's allegations "not even close" to attempted rape.

Ford accuses Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, and his friend of confining her to a bedroom, pinning her to a bed, groping her, trying to remove her bathing suit and holding his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming. Ford says she escaped when his friend jumped on top of them and she broke away, fleeing the house.

The alleged incident took place at a high school party in 1982 when she was 15 and Kavanaugh 17. "I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford told The Washington Post. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing." Kavanaugh denies Ford's allegations.

Kavanaugh's critics want to postpone his Senate confirmation proceedings to allow for an investigation into Ford's allegations. Some even want him to withdraw from the process altogether and have Trump pick a new nominee. Ford wants the FBI to investigate.

Pirro, a former judge and district attorney who now hosts her own Fox News program, appeared on her network colleague Sean Hannity's show Wednesday night to talk about the Kavanaugh accusations.

Hannity said he is worried "about a rush to judgment" and "no presumption of innocence" for Kavanaugh. "This will now follow Judge Kavanaugh, just the allegation, for the rest of his life," Hannity said.

"Every prosecutor understands when you investigate, prosecute, try and sentence these individuals, that everything is at stake," Pirro, who is a strong Trump supporter, said.

"Their civil liberties, their reputation, their character. And what we have here is a part of the left, they're basically saying we don't want to have true justice here, we want everyone to believe her from the get-go.

"But I ask you this. Number one, what in Brett Kavanaugh's background suggests in any way shape or form that he disrespects women? What in his background from women who worked for him, dated him, went to school [with] him—none of this has ever shown up.

"And they want to accuse him of putting his hand over her mouth, of attempted rape, as if they know what that is. We are not even close to that in terms of the facts that are alleged. And in the end, what we have are accusations—that we should believe them and not give him a right to speak."

Ford, who is a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, has fled her home amid death threats after breaking cover with her allegations against Kavanaugh, according to her lawyer.