Kavanaugh facing new allegations
Democrats call for FBI probe after second woman speaks out against judge
Just as negotiators reached agreement on an extraordinary hearing for Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, a second allegation of sexual misconduct by the Supreme Court nominee put the White House and Senate Republicans on the defensive and fuelled calls from Democrats to postpone further action on his confirmation.
A days-long back and forth over the timing and terms of a hearing with Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, appeared to end yesterday with the announcement that they would appear separately on Friday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The hearing promised a televised national drama as Ford tells her story of a high school sexual assault before sceptical Republicans, followed by Kavanaugh pleading his innocence and being grilled by Democrats.
Hours later, however, the New Yorker magazine reported online that Senate Democrats were investigating another woman’s accusation of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, this time dating to the 1983-84 academic year, Kavanaugh’s first at Yale University.
The New Yorker said 53-year-old Deborah Ramirez described the incident in an interview after being contacted by the magazine.
Ramirez recalled that Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away, the magazine reported.
In a statement provided by the White House, Kavanaugh said the event “did not happen” and that the allegation was “a smear, plain and simple”.
A White House spokeswoman added in a second statement that the allegation was “designed to tear down a good man”.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called for the “immediate postponement” of any further action on Kavanaugh’s nomination. She also asked the committee’s chairman, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, to have the FBI investigate the allegations of both Ford and Ramirez.
The New Yorker said it contacted Ramirez after learning of a possible involvement in an incident with Kavanaugh and that the allegation came to Democratic senators through a civil rights lawyer. She had been considering speaking to the magazine for at least a week. The magazine reported that Ramirez was reluctant at first to speak publicly “partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident”. She also acknowledged reluctance “to characterise Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty”.
The magazine reported that after “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections” to recall the incident.