GOP aide involved in Kavanaugh confirmation resigns

Adviser steps down over sexual harassment claims

A communications adviser working for Senate Republicans in their battle to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has resigned following reports of past sexual harassment claims made against him.

Garrett Ventry, 29, was tasked with aiding the GOP in their response to claims made against Kavanaugh by California professor Christine Blasey Ford. He stepped down abruptly after it emerged he resigned from a previous job over sexual harassment allegations, NBC News first reported.

Ventry denied any past “allegations of misconduct.”

The sudden departure came as the Gop-led Senate Judiciary Committee negotiated with the Ford’s attorney over her potential appearance before the panel next week.

Ford’s lawyers said later Saturday that she would testify.

Ford went public last week with claims that a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, covered her mouth to stifle her screams and tried to undress her at a Maryland house party nearly 36 years ago. She was 15 at the time.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and has said he is willing to testify in his defense.

Republicans have dug in as they push for a vote on Kavanaugh, nominated by President Donald Trump to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy told NBC that Ventry was one of several temporary aides brought in to help guide the GOP through the process and said the part-time staffer maintains he did nothing wrong.

“While (Ventry) strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee,” Foy said in a statement to the network. Ventry also resigned from the public relations company where he had been on a temporary leave of absence to work on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, a company spokesman told NBC.

The allegation was reportedly made by a female employee of the North Carolina GOP General Assembly while Ventry worked for North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell’s office last year.