WATCH: Mitch McConnell Calls the Way Democrats Are Handling Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Allegations ‘Irregular’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor to decry what he claims is a Democrat-led conspiracy to torpedo Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination in the wake of sexual assault allegations.

“Now, [an] accusation of 36-year-old misconduct dating back to high school has been brought forward at the last minute in an irregular manner. It is an accusation which Judge Kavanaugh has completely and unequivocally denied,” McConnell said, adding:

“This is what he [Kavanaugh] said: ‘This is a completely false allegation. I’ve never done anything like what the accuser describes to her or to anyone.’

It is an accusation which the ranking member of the Committee for Jurisdiction [Dianne Feinstein] has known about for at least six weeks. Known about for six weeks––yet chose to keep secret until the 11th hour.”

McConnell proceeded to further criticize the way Democrats have handled the allegations, saying they never raised the allegations even with accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s name redacted:

“They did not raise it in the thousand plus follow-up questions that senators sent to Judge Kavanaugh in writing. But now, at the 11th hour, with committee votes on schedule, after Democrats have spent weeks and weeks searching for any possible reason that the nomination should be delayed, now they choose to introduce this allegation.”

McConnell’s claim that the way Democrats are handling the allegation is an “irregular” departure from the traditional process of confirming Supreme Court nominees opened him up to criticism immediately.

Liberal opponents have opposed the nomination, citing a precedent set by McConnell, who infamously refused to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nomination for the high court. At the time, McConnell claimed that the Senate should not confirm Supreme Court nominees during an election year, though he could cite no rules to support this assertion, and accusations that his decision was informed, at least in part, by racial animus toward Obama have dogged him ever since.

In July, McConnell was similarly rebuked after he urged his fellow senators to see beyond the far-left fear mongering before evaluating President Donald Trump’s eventual Supreme Court nominee “fairly.”

The facts were not lost on many who responded to McConnell’s message and charged him with hypocrisy, with some quoting the following tweet, in which McConnell said the American people should have a voice in choosing the next Supreme Court justice before the Senate could start confirmation hearings.

https://twitter.com/LPOB65/status/1016651433905737728

Complicating matters for McConnell: Several Republican lawmakers have gone on record saying that the Senate must postpone its vote on Kavanaugh until after Ford testifies.