Democrats keep highlighting one of the most surprising comments from Brett Kavanaugh's heated testimony

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Brett Kavanaugh.

• Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee took aim at one of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's most surprising comments from his Thursday hearing.
• Kavanaugh said the allegations against him may have been the result of people seeking "revenge on behalf of the Clintons."
• "This 'lock her up' grace note in Judge Kavanaugh's remarks may have raised a cheer in the White House, but it was a sad moment in the history of this committee," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Friday.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee took aim at one of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's most surprising comments from his Thursday hearing before the committee.

President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee lashed out at Democrats in his opening remarks, saying allegations of sexual misconduct were part of a "calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election."

He also blamed them for "fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups."

Democrats, who were taken aback by much of Kavanaugh's testimony, highlighted the Clinton comments as particularly disturbing for someone who not only could soon occupy a Supreme Court seat, but from someone who already is a member of the federal judiciary.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking member on the committee, called the remark "unbelievable" before the panel voted on Kavanaugh's nomination Friday. Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris told Refinery29 that the comment made it clear Kavanaugh is "a political operative" and "showed ... who he really is." And Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said the remark was "conspiratorial madness."

Perhaps the strongest condemnation came from Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-highest ranking Senate Democrat.

"This 'lock her up' grace note in Judge Kavanaugh's remarks may have raised a cheer in the White House, but it was a sad moment in the history of this committee," he said ahead of the committee's Friday vote to advance the nomination.

CNN reported Thursday that Trump himself viewed the remark positively.

It was not clear whether Kavanaugh meant he believed the allegations were revenge for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton losing the election to Trump, or for his role as an investigator for independent counsel Ken Starr, who investigated former President Bill Clinton.

Regardless, the comment was a rare instance of an outsize political comment from someone either on the Supreme Court or in the process of being confirmed to it.

In 2016, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg apologized for comments she made about Trump, then the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Ginsburg had said Trump was a "faker," and that she couldn't "imagine what the country would be" like with Trump as president. In in her apology, she said that judges should avoid such political commentary.