Former President George W. Bush is standing by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a former top White House aide whose confirmation to the high court has been thrown into doubt amid sexual assault allegations.

Bush told POLITICO in a statement on Tuesday: “Laura and I have known and respected Brett Kavanaugh for decades, and we stand by our comments the night Judge Kavanaugh was nominated.”

The former president had previously said of Kavanaugh: “He is a fine husband, father, and friend – and a man of the highest integrity. He will make a superb Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Kavanaugh worked for Bush as an associate counsel and then staff secretary in the White House, where he met his wife Ashley, who was Bush’s personal secretary. Bush appointed Kavanaugh in 2006 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, after a stalled 2003 nomination.