Sarah Sanders flails as Fox host presses her about Trump mocking Ford

On Thursday Senators reviewed an FBI report on the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

As Senate Judiciary committee head Chuck Grassley urged a prompt vote Thursday morning, Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared on Fox News and tried to explain why President Donald Trump mocked Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, at a rally in Mississippi Tuesday.

"We stand 100 percent behind Brett Kavanuagh," Sanders said. After reiterating the White House's support of Kavanaugh and claiming that Republicans were lining up behind his nomination, Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked if the president had purposefully attacked Ford.

"Was it a strategy to characterize Dr. Ford's testimony the way the president did the other night in Mississippi?" Hemmer asked.

Sanders equivocated.

"Bill, our strategy has been really simple since day one," she said. "That's been to pick a nominee that is of the highest intellect, that has great judicial temperament, and get them confirmed to the Supreme Court. That's been our strategy. It's been real simple and we look forward to seeing that happen."

Hemmer pressed Sanders on why Trump had pivoted from being relatively respectful towards Ford to lashing out at her at the rally.

"But he appeared to be restrained up to that moment," Hemmer observed. "Was there a conscious decision made that you're going to characterize Dr. Ford's testimony the way he did the other night ... based on the numbers you're seeing and the support across the country?"

Sanders, once again, evaded the question.

"It has nothing to do with the numbers. It has to do simply with the president being the leader and certainly wanting to see his nominee be treated fairly," she said.

"He wants this process to be run the right way," she continued. "Every single word that Brett Kavanaugh has said during his testimony was picked apart relentlessly. He was badgered, as Lindsay Graham said, he was not necessarily treated fairly," Sanders claimed. "The president wanted to point out the hypocrisy of that."

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