Drinking beer became such a theme in last week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that Saturday Night Live spoofed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's many references to drinking beers with his friends.
But there are serious questions underlying all the focus on beer: whether Kavanaugh was fully forthcoming in his testimony and what his behavior was like when drunk.
During his Rose Garden press conference Monday, President Trump was asked whether he would withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination if it was determined that he lied about his drinking under oath.
"I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer," Trump said. "And he's had a little bit of difficulty. I mean, he talked about things that happened when he drank. I mean, this is not a man that said that alcohol was — that he was perfect with respect to alcohol."
Later Trump again characterized Kavanaugh as having described a problem with alcohol when he was younger. "I watched that hearing and I watched a man saying that he did have difficulty as a young man with drink," Trump said.
Kavanaugh never went that far in his testimony, speaking mostly in general terms. "I drank beer with my friends," Kavanaugh said in his opening statement. "Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out, and I never sexually assaulted anyone."
He added later that in high school he and his friends sometimes "did goofy or stupid things," things that he said he looks back on and cringes.
Democratic senators pressed for more details about his drinking, whether a reference in his yearbook to the "ralph club" was related to vomiting from drinking too much and whether he had ever forgotten details after a night of drinking. In both cases Kavanaugh pushed back on the senators, asking them if they had ever drunk too much.
At one point, rather than answer a question about alcohol consumption, Kavanaugh began reciting his academic and athletic credentials. He also opaquely blamed a disagreement between college roommates for one college classmate's claim that he was aggressive or even belligerent when drunk.
Kavanaugh's sometimes evasive answers about drinking has prompted several people who knew him in high school and college to come forward in recent days.
"When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive," wrote Yale classmate Chad Ludington in a statement released on Sunday and posted by the New York Times. "On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man's face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail." In a report published online Monday, the Times provided more details about the 1985 incident.
The White House distributed statements from two other college classmates who said they never saw such behavior.
"I not only socialized with Brett, but I was there with him at the end of the night when we came home, and there in the morning when we got up. I never saw Brett black out or not be able to remember the prior evening's events, nor did I ever see Brett act aggressive, hostile, or in a sexually aggressive manner to women. Brett was and is a good-natured, kind, and friendly person, to men and women," said former dorm suitemate Dan Murphy in a statement. "The behavior I've heard other people want to attribute to him, but from people who did not live with Brett and therefore not in the same position to observe, is simply wrong, and such behavior is incompatible with what I know to be true."
Regardless of what Trump said in the Rose Garden on Monday, those in the White House working to secure Kavanaugh's confirmation aren't copping to the idea that he had "difficulty as a young man with drink."
Raj Shah, the White House spokesman handling Kavanaugh's confirmation, said that what Kavanaugh describes is pretty typical high school and college behavior, that he has in general terms "acknowledged pretty much everything," including underaged drinking and at times drinking too much.
How to explain Trump's characterization of Kavanaugh? Trump's views on alcohol are shaped by his own life experience.
At an opioid event last year at the White House, Trump talked about his brother Fred, who from a young age told him never to drink. "He had a problem with alcohol," Trump said of his brother.
"He had a very, very, very tough life because of alcohol — believe me, very, very tough, tough life," Trump said. "He was a strong guy, but it was a tough, tough thing that he was going through."
It is perhaps ironic that beer would come to play such a central role in the controversy over the Supreme Court pick of a president who so spurns alcohol.
"I'm just saying, I'm not a drinker," Trump volunteered during the press conference Monday. "I can honestly say I never had a beer in my life, OK?" Though, he said, he has been to parties in high school and college where people were drinking, going "crazy."
"They were 16, 17 years old, and I saw a lot of it. Does that mean that they can't do something that they want to do with their life?" Trump asked.
And, that, according to Shah was Trump's point: Kavanaugh "drank a lot" (to use Trump's phrasing) but that was a long time ago and should not overshadow his accomplished career and qualifications to be a Supreme Court justice.
Kavanaugh's critics say he simply hasn't been forthcoming about his drinking all those years ago, including when he was under oath testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. They argue it is relevant, both as a matter of truthfulness but also because alcohol can affect behavior and memory, and Christine Blasey Ford alleges Kavanaugh was stumbling drunk when he assaulted her — an event he strenuously denies.
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