First lady Melania Trump won’t say whether she believes the California college professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
“I will move on that,” Trump said Saturday when reporters asked her in Egypt whether she believed Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford. “We need to help all the victims no matter what kind of abuse they had. I am against any kind of abuse or violence.”
Melania Trump was brief in her comments on the controversy over Kavanaugh’s nomination. Ford testified to a Senate committee that Kavanaugh tried to rape her while they were both in high school. Kavanaugh has denied the allegation and other accusations of sexual misconduct.
“I think he’s qualified for the Supreme Court,” she said. “I’m glad that Dr. Ford was heard. I’m glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard, and that the FBI investigation was done. It’s completed.”
The Senate is set to hold a final vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Saturday. Key senators announced their support for him on Friday, paving the way for a favorable vote.
Melania Trump, who rarely takes questions from the media, spoke near the Great Sphinx of Giza, an ancient Egyptian monument renowned for its inscrutable expression. Her public statements and even her fashion choices have sometimes implied disagreement her husband but she has rarely explicitly said that he’s wrong.
The first lady, who has publicly campaigned against bullying on social media, also told reporters she sometimes disagrees with her husband’s caustic tweets.
“I don’t always agree what he tweets, and I tell him that,” Trump said. “I give him my honest opinion and honest advice. Sometimes he listens sometimes he doesn’t.”
The first lady is on a week-long tour of Africa. She met earlier Saturday with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. She also visited Malawi, Ghana and Kenya.