Transcript for President Trump apologizes to Kavanaugh during Supreme Court swearing-in ceremony
a ceremonial swearing in for new supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. President trump calling the battle over his nomination all part of a democratic hoax. And the president is now predicting it will now help the Republicans in the midterm elections. Here’s ABC’s chief white house correspondent Jonathan Karl tonight. Reporter: As he celebrates Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation victory, president trump is lashing out at Democrats who opposed him. It was a disgraceful situation, brought about by people that are evil. And he toughed it out. We all toughed it out together. Reporter: Kavanaugh was confirmed by the narrowest margin for a supreme court justice in over 130 years. Protests going on in the senate chamber even as vice president pence presided over the final vote. The sergeant-at-arms will restore order in the gallery. Reporter: As Kavanaugh was Sporn in that evening by chief justice John Roberts, two of the court’s staunch liberals were there to witness. Justices Elaina Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joining Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas for the ceremony. Deep divisions remain. Republican senator Susan Collins, whose vote proved decisive, told “60 minutes” that she now has a security detail because of threats she’s received. And while she believes Christine blasey Ford is a victim of sexual assault, she says she’s also not convinced Kavanaugh was not her attacker. She was clearly terrified, traumatized, and I believed that a sexual assault had happened to her. What I think she is mistaken about is who the perpetrator was. I do not believe her assailant was Brett Kavanaugh. Reporter: North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, representing a state where president trump is popular, is poised to pay a political price for voting no, but she says it was a matter of conscience. Do I have work that I want to continue to do? Absolutely. Do I want to compromise my principles and my conscience for that job? No. And do I want to compromise the supreme court for that job? No. Reporter: President trump predicts the confirmation battle will help Republicans in the midterm elections and insists that if Democrats win, they will try to impeach Kavanaugh and throw him off the court. Now they’re thinking of impeaching a brilliant jurist, a man that did nothing wrong, a man that was caught up in a hoax, that was set up by the Democrats. So, let’s get to Jon Karl, live at the white house tonight, and Jon, president trump was joined on air force one today by deputy attorney general rod Rosenstein. Everyone at home likely remembers Rosenstein’s fate had been uncertain after “The new York Times” first reported that he once allegedly wanted to secretly report the president, discussed potentially removing him through the 25th amendment. What are you learning about the conversation today? Reporter: We’re told the two men spoke for 45 minutes aboard air force one. Unclear how much they discussed those reports or the Russia
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
