US President Donald Trump mounted an angry defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday as the controversial judge faced calls for an investigation over fresh allegations of sexual misconduct.
Trump blasted the media and "Radical Left Democrats" after a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh alleged that the jurist - one of the most senior judges in the land - exposed himself at a freshman year party before other students pushed his genitals into the hand of a female student.
The latest allegation in The New York Times came after Kavanaugh denied sexual misconduct accusations levelled against him by two women during his confirmation to the Supreme Court last October.
"Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favourite word, impeachment," Trump tweeted.
"He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning Liberal!" The new allegations came from Max Stier, who runs a non-profit in Washington.
His concerns were reported to the FBI during Kavanaugh's 2018 confirmation process but not investigated, according to the Times.
Stier said he saw his former classmate "with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student."
The latest allegation surfaced during a 10-month investigation by Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, and features in their upcoming book, "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation."
Trump called on Kavanaugh to take legal action over the claims, suggesting also that the Department of Justice should intervene on the judge's behalf and "come to his rescue."
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobouchar, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was involved in a heated exchange with Kavanaugh during his confirmation, described the process as a "sham."
"I strongly opposed him based on his views on executive power, which will continue to haunt our country, as well as how he behaved, including the allegations that we are hearing more about today," she told ABC's "This Week."
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