Judge Napolitano: Only 'Righteous Indignation' Will Save Kavanaugh

Brett Kavanaugh will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a few minutes, following several hours of questions for accuser Christine Blasey Ford, in the matter of her allegation against him of sexual assault when they were teenagers.

Earlier, during one of several breaks the committee took on behalf of Ford, Fox News had Judge Andrew Napolitano on to offer commentary, and he gave some analysis of how Kavanaugh should respond this afternoon.

Although the commentary offered in the clip below is from earlier, and therefore he had not seen the full set of questions asked by prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who is asking questions on behalf of the GOP, it’s worth pointing out that Napolitano began by saying that Mitchell was not “laying a glove” on Ford, and was in fact “actually helping her credibility.”

Napolitano said that President Trump could not be happy with how things are going, and that neither can the team advising Kavanaugh, which led him to discuss how the nominee should use his tone to his advantage this afternoon.

“Judge Kavanaugh is an academic jurist. The court room in which he operates is not one like you see on television with lawyers shouting at each other and trying to intimidate witnesses and juries. They engage in academic arguments,” he said.

His advice for Kavanaugh was specific, but may be hard for the judge to deliver. Kavanaugh has to “shed that mantle” of academic courtroom settings. “He has to become a person inflicted with the most righteous indignation in order to overcome the extraordinarily credible performance that his accuser has made so far.”

“Only that will save him at this point.”

Righteous indignation, says the judge, is the only way.

Watch:

“By five or six o’clock this afternoon, I think there will be a consensus about which of the two is more believable. This is not about — I’ve been saying this all week — this is not about the truth. This is about believability of the two witnesses.”

It’s a court of public opinion, and Judge Napolitano on Fox News says that the only way for Kavanaugh to get that opinion going his way is to be filled with indignation at the charges against him. We’ll see if Kavanaugh takes that route, and whether it works, shortly.