McConnell says Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh will be confirmed

[September 26, 2018]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he believed President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, would be confirmed to the lifetime position.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks beside Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Thune (R-SD), and John Cornyn (R-TX) during a news conference following the Republican weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 25, 2018. REUTERS/Al Drago

"We're going to be moving forward. I'm confident we're going to win, confident that he'll be confirmed in the very near future," McConnell, a Republican, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. "I believe he'll be confirmed, yes."

McConnell also said the Senate had hired a woman lawyer to do the questioning of Kavanaugh and his accuser for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee during Thursday's hearing. All the Republicans on the panel are men.

"We have hired a female assistant to go on staff and to ask these questions in a respectful and professional way," McConnell said.

Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault during a 1982 party in Maryland that took place when both where high school students. Kavanaugh has denied he ever sexually assaulted any one.

(Reporting by Amanda Becker and Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Alexander and Peter Cooney)

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