(Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Orrin Hatch called Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they both were in high school, an “attractive” witness.
Asked during a break in a Thursday hearing if Ford is credible, the Utah senator said: “It's too early to say. I don't think she's uncredible. I think she's an attractive, good witness. But it's way too early.”
He was asked what he meant by attractive, Hatch said: “In other words, she's pleasing.”
He made the comments during a brief recess in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting where Hatch and other lawmakers heard testimony from Ford and will also hear from Kavanaugh, who denies the allegations.
A Hatch spokesman, Matt Whitlock, later tweeted: “Hatch uses ‘attractive' to describe personalities, not appearances. If you search his past quotes you'll see he's used it consistently for years for men and women he believed has compelling personalities.”
Hatch, who has defended Kavanaugh, said he expects the Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of the nominee.
--With assistance from Sahil Kapur.
To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Joe Sobczyk
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