Brett Kavanaugh: Trump would withdraw Supreme Court nomination if he believes judge 'is guilty' and accusers are 'convincing'

'This is one of the highest quality people that I've ever met. And everybody that knows him says the same thing'

Donald Trump has said he could withdraw Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court “if he believed” he was guilty after listening to the judge’s accusers.

In a press conference in New York where has been attending the United Nations, the president was pressed about whether he believed the allegations of the three women who have accused Mr Kavanaugh of sexual assault or misconduct, or if he thought they were liars. He said he had not made up his mind because he had not yet had the chance to hear them testify.

“I can’t tell you. I have to watch tomorrow. They could be convincing,” he said. Asked if he could withdraw the nomination, he added: “If I thought he was guilty of something like this…yeah, sure.”

He added: ”They’re giving the women a major chance to speak. Now it’s possible I’ll hear that and say hey I’m changing my mind. Hey, that’s possible.”

He said he would not get into the issue of whether Mr Kavanaugh’s accusers were telling the truth. “I won’t get into that game. I only tell you this. This is one of the highest quality people that I’ve ever met. And everybody that knows him says the same thing. And these are all false, to me. These are false accusations in certain cases, and certain cases even the media agrees with that. I can only say that what they’ve done to this man is incredible.”

Asked if his attitude about the nature of allegations against Mr Kavanaugh was coloured by the fact he had been accused of sexual assault by numerous women, the president said it “absolutely” had been.

“Well it does impact my opinion you know why, I’ve had a lot of false charges made against me,” Mr Trump said “People want fame. They want money. When I see it, I view it differently.”

Mr Trump, who has been accused by at least 17 women, added: “I was accused by, I believe it was four women...who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me.”

He was if he was concerned about the message being sent to women watching when he used language such as “con job“ in relation to allegations of sexual assault.

“Con job is probably the nicest language I’ve used,” he said,

The president said he was so determined not to take attention from the senate committee hearing, it was possible he would delay his meeting with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to avoid “competing” with the Capitol Hill testimony. The pair were due to discuss the future of the man overseeing the independent investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

“I don’t want to do anything that gets in the way,” Mr Trump said. Earlier this week, it emerged Mr Rosenstein believed he was to be fired after reports he had been discussing trying to remove the president using the 25th Amendment of the constitution.

He said he would he “would certainly prefer” not to fire Mr Rosenstein.

“I’m talking with him. We’ve had a good talk. He said he never said it. He said he doesn’t believe. He said he has a lot of respect for me. And he was very nice. And we’ll see,” he said. “My preference would be to keep him and to let him finish up.”

During his solo press conference, at times freewheeling and lasting for more than 75 minutes, Mr Trump said he would not get into a “time game” in terms of setting deadlines for North Korea to denuclearise.

“We’re not playing the time game. If it takes two years, three years or five months,” it does not matter, he said

Asked about the Middle East peace process, Mr Trump said he believed a two-state solution was the most likely answer to the Israel-Palestinian conflict but that he wold be content with a one-state solution if both sides wanted that.

Mr Trump held his press conference on the eve of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee from Mr Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who accused the judge of sexually assaulting her at a high school party three decades ago. A second women, Deborah Ramirez, has said Mr Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken dormitory party when they were both at Yale University.

On Wednesday, a third woman, Julie Swetnick released a signed document that has been sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which she claims she saw Mr Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, help get teenage girls “inebriated and disoriented so they could then be “gang raped” in a side room or bedroom by “a train of numerous boys”. The senate has asked for a written statement from Ms Swetnick but neither she or Ms Ramirez are expected to be given the chance to testify.

Mr Kavanaugh and Mr Judge had denied the allegations.