Judge faces gang rape claims
A third woman publicly accused Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, of sexual misconduct yesterday, claiming he was present at parties as a teenager where girls were ‘‘gang raped’’.
Julie Swetnick, a former US government employee, alleged that Kavanaugh and his friends attempted to ‘‘spike’’ drinks so women would be too inebriated to say ‘‘no’’ in the Eighties.
She also claimed to have seen Kavanaugh in a line of boys outside a room at one of these parties ‘‘waiting for their ’turn’ with a girl in the room’’.
Kavanaugh denied the allegations, saying: ‘‘This is ridiculous and from The Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.’’
The new claims plunged his confirmation into further uncertainty, causing leading Democrats to demand the president withdraw Kavanaugh as his nominee for the Supreme Court.
However Trump dismissed the latest allegations, calling them a ‘‘disgrace’’ and a ‘‘con’’. He expressed hope that Kavanaugh would be confirmed ‘‘over the next couple of days’’, and predicted he would become one of the ‘‘greatest ever’’ Supreme Court judges.
Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the first to accuse him of sexual misconduct, will today testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which vets nominees.
Millions are expected to tune in to the live broadcast at 8am Washington time, with the row seen as a test for how the US deals with such allegations in the wake of #MeToo.
‘‘This is ridiculous and from The Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.’’ Brett Kavanaugh
The Republican leadership yesterday insisted it would push ahead with a scheduled vote of committee members tomorrow on Kavanaugh’s nomination. The result hangs in the balance with Jeff Flake, a Republican senator who frequently criticises Mr Trump, seen as the key swing vote. Yesterday he repeated criticism of how the process had been handled.
A full vote of the Senate, which the Republicans hold by 51 seats to 49, would then be needed. Republicans want to fill the Supreme Court seat before the November midterm elections, when they could lose their majority.
Kavanaugh appeared to be cruising towards a certain confirmation until the three allegations emerged.
Ford claimed he had pinned her on a bed and groped her while drunk at a house party in 1982.
Kavanaugh ‘‘completely’’ denied the claim and yesterday produced his calendar from that time in an attempt to disprove the allegation.
A second woman, Deborah Ramirez, then claimed that Kavanaugh had thrust his genitals in her face during a party at Yale University in the early Eighties. He denied the claims and said the event ‘‘did not happen’’. Swetnick, the third accuser, yesterday made her claims through Michael Avenatti, her lawyer, who also represented Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claimed an affair with Trump.
Avenatti tweeted a 14-point statement apparently signed by Swetnick, who worked in government and had some security clearance, which outlined her background and allegations.
Swetnick claimed that she first met Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, his high-school friend, in the early Eighties and attended ‘‘well over’’ 10 parties with both around the Washington DC area.
Swetnick alleged: ‘‘On numerous occasions at these parties, I witnessed Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh drink excessively and engage in highly inappropriate conduct, including being overly aggressive with girls and not taking ’no’ for an answer.’’
She alleged that Kavanaugh would ‘‘engage in abusive and physically aggressive behaviour toward girls’’, including ‘‘pressing girls against him without consent, ’grinding’ against girls, and attempting to remove or shift girls’ clothing to expose private body parts’’.
Swetnick claimed that Kavanaugh, Judge and others made efforts ‘‘to spike the punch at parties I attended with drugs and/or grain alcohol so as to cause girls to lose their inhibitions and their ability to say ’no.’’’ She also alleged that Kavanaugh, Judge and others made an effort ‘‘to cause girls to become inebriated and disorientated so they could be gang raped by a train of boys’’.
Ms Swetnick also alleged she was raped around 1982 ‘‘where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present’’, saying that she believes she was drugged. – Telegraph Group