Sen. Cotton: Kavanaugh 'Appropriately Indignant' at Smear Campaign

Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton on Sunday defended Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s defiant defense during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing,  saying he was both “truthful” and “appropriately indignant at the smear campaign.”

In a contentious interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Cotton also railed at Senate Democrats for withholding information for weeks about accuser Christine Blasey Ford.

“Any impact this entire episode … had on women's willingness to come forward or report sexual assault — encourage them all to do immediately after it happens — is caused by the Democrats, caused by [California Democratic Sen.] Dianne Feinstein and [New York Democratic Sen.] Chuck Schumer,” he declared.

Cotton said Kavanaugh was convincingly truthful during his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday.

"I found him to be truthful,” Cotton said. “I found him to be appropriately indignant at the smear campaign.”

“If they didn't want him to come in… angry and indignant at their false accusations they should have thought about that before they accused him of being a serial sex criminal,” Cotton added about Senate committee Democrats.

But pressed on whether Cotton found Kavanaugh truthful in his panel hearing, Cotton shot back: "What are you talking about?" — and criticized the FBI probe of Kavanaugh prior to a final Senate committee vote as an “open ended fishing expedition."

"As [Sens.] John Kennedy [R-La.,] and Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] said, if there is some shocking bit [of evidence]… and proof then of course, I'm open to evaluating that evidence,” he added. “But I strongly suspect that every statement that was made to the Judiciary Committee under penalty of perjury is the exact same statements going to be made to the FBI."

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