Business Standard

Witnessed sexual abuse by Kavanaugh: Third accuser

- AFP/PTI

A new woman claimed on Wednesday to have witnessed sexually abusive behaviour by Brett Kavanaugh and said she was gang-raped at a party in the early 1980s attended by the Supreme Court nominee.

Julie Swetnick said in a statement released by her lawyer that the events took place at parties she attended while a high school student in suburban Maryland. She said she saw Kavanaugh behave as a “mean drunk” at such parties and witnessed him “engage in highly inappropri­ate conduct” that included the “fondling and grabbing of girls without their consent.” “I observed Brett Kavanaugh drink excessivel­y at many of these parties and engage in abusive and physically aggressive behaviour towards girls, including pressing girls against him without their consent, ‘grinding’ against girls, and attempting to remove or shift girls’ clothing to expose private body parts.”

“I likewise observed him be verbally abusive towards girls by making crude sexual comments to them that were designed to demean, humiliate and embarrass them,” she said.

Swetnick said Kavanaugh’s claim of “innocence” and lack of sexual activity in high school was “absolutely false and a lie.” Swetnick, who has worked extensivel­y for the US federal government, also said she was drugged and gang-raped at a party in approximat­ely 1982 at which Kavanaugh was present.

She did not claim that Kavanaugh took part or was aware of her rape but she claimed that he and other boys in his circle engaged in similar behavior. She said she had witnessed efforts by Kavanaugh to “‘target’ particular girls so they could be taken advantage of.” The bombshell new claims come after two women came forward to accuse the judge of assaulting them in the 1980s, in a scandal that has tripped up what was expected to be an easy confirmati­on process for the conservati­ve judge.

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