Kavanaugh hits back at assault report

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “unequivocally” denied a reported allegation that during a party in high school he held a girl down and tried to force himself on her.

“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” Kavanaugh said in a statement released by the White House on Friday.

The White House isn’t considering pulling Kavanaugh’s nomination over the allegation, White House spokesman Raj Shah said. The Senate Judiciary Committee will proceed with its planned vote on Sept. 20 to advance the Kavanaugh confirmation to the full Senate, said Taylor Foy, a spokesman for panel Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Details of the allegation were reported Friday by the New Yorker magazine. The initial disclosure Thursday by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein that she had provided unspecified “information” to the FBI threw the already contentious confirmation fight into confusion.

Kavanaugh has appeared to be on track for confirmation by the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House and Senate Republicans accused Democrats of making a last-ditch effort to block the appointment. Republicans control the Senate 51-49, and no GOP members have opposed confirmation, although two abortionrights supporters, Maine’s Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, haven’t yet said how they’ll vote.

The New Yorker cited a letter written by the woman that said the encounter occurred at a party when Kavanaugh was a high school student during the early 1980s. The woman contended that Kavanaugh and a classmate of his had been drinking, and turned up music that was playing in the room to drown out her protests. The woman said Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand, but that she was able to free herself, according to the New Yorker.

The magazine quoted Kavanaugh’s classmate as saying he had no recollection of such an incident. Kavanaugh attended all-male Georgetown Preparatory School, and the magazine said the woman attended a nearby high school. The magazine said the woman, whom it didn’t identify, declined a request for an interview.

The letter was sent to California Democratic Representative Anna Eshoo and to Feinstein, also of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee that’s considering Kavanaugh’s high court nomination. Feinstein turned the letter over this week to the FBI, which said it’s not investigating though it included the letter in his background file.

Foy said no allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced in any of six previous FBI background checks spanning 1993 to 2018 of Kavanaugh, a former White House aide and a federal appeals court judge since 2006.