Trump claims women were paid to accuse him in dramatic press conference as he defends Brett Kavanaugh

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Donald Trump has claimed that a number of women were "paid a lot of money" to "make up stories" about him as he defended his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Talking about whether the fact he has been accused of sexual assault in the past affected his views on the allegations levelled against Mr Kavanaugh, the president said: "When I see it, I view it differently... It's happened to me many times. I've had many false charges.“

“When you say does it affect me? Absolutely. Because I've had it many times,” Mr Trump said regarding the allegations surrounding Mr Kavanaugh.

“I was accused by, I believe it was four women... who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me,” Trump said as he continued to blast the media for repeating the allegations.

In reality, more than a dozen people have accused Mr Trump of sexual assault or harassment. The president has denied all the charges.

“I've had a lot of false charges against me,” Mr Trump said.

In the press conference, Mr Trump also claimed that he won the women's vote, at 52 per cent, in the 2016 general election. In fact, Hilary Clinton won the women's vote. With this false statistic, the president is presumably referring to the white women's vote, which he did indeed win.

Mr Kavanaugh’s likely ascension to the highest court in America. Firstly, Dr Christine Blasey Ford accused Mr Kavanaugh of trying to force himself upon her during a party while the two were in high school. Then Deborah Ramirez accused Mr Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct while both were students at Yale University.

On Wednesday, Mr Kavanaugh dismissed a third woman's accusation against him of misconduct as “ridiculous”.

The new claim, which is being investigated by the Senate, alleges Mr Kavanaugh committed serious sexual assault in high school.

In a statement, the judge said he did not know the accuser, Julie Swetnick, and her allegations “never happened”.

Mr Trump praised Kavanaugh at the news conference , but in answer to a question he said he could consider changing his mind on the nomination if testimony by Kavanaugh-accuser Dr Ford is totally convincing. He said of the allegations by her and others, “If I thought he was guilty of something like this ... yeah, sure.”

Republican leaders indicated they were still determined to have the committee vote on recommending Kavanaugh on Friday — after a dramatic Thursday hearing at which both Mr Kavanaugh and Dr Ford, are to testify. A roll call presumably would follow next week by the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority.

Reuters contributed to this report