Kavanaugh’s defenders endure scrutiny, criticism
65 women who signed letter caught up in firestorm
NEW YORK — It started as a series of phone calls among old highschool friends and ended up embroiling 65 women in the firestorm over a sexual assault allegation that could shape the Supreme Court.
In a matter of hours, they all signed onto a letter rallying behind high court nominee and their high school friend Brett Kavanaugh as someone who “has always treated women with decency and respect.”
The powerful strength-in-numbers statement, offered to bolster Kavanaugh’s denial of a claim that he attacked Christine Blasey Ford — now a psychology professor in California — at a party during their high school years, has drawn questions from journalists, social media skeptics, even Hollywood figures.
Do they stand by their declaration? Yes, say more than a dozen signers who have since spoken to The Associated Press or other media outlets.
“Brett wouldn’t do that in a million years. I’m totally confident. That would be completely out of character for him,” said Paula Duke Ebel. She said she interacted with Kavanaugh hundreds of times while they were students in a close-knit constellation of single-sex Catholic schools around Washington in the 1980s.
Women who organized and signed the letter say it was a rapid response by a social network that endures decades after they graduated. They say it was easy to mobilize: a chain of friends calling, texting and emailing friends from a Washington-area world where many still live and see each other.
Meanwhile, hundreds of alumnae of the secular private girls school that Kavanaugh’s accuser attended have signed a letter supporting her and calling for an investigation of her allegations.
“We believe Dr. Blasey Ford,” they wrote.
One of the signers, Cristina King Miranda, tweeted Wednesday that the alleged attack “was spoken about for days afterward in school” and that Kavanaugh “should stop lying.” But in a Facebook post hours later, she said she had no firsthand knowledge of the matter and wouldn’t comment further amid a media “circus” and a barrage of interview requests.
While that letter is signed by a mix of Ford’s peers and students from before or after her time at her school, the letter backing Kavanaugh is from women who vouch that they knew Kavanaugh, now a federal appeals Brett wouldn’t do that in a million years. I’m totally confident. That would be completely out of character for him. court judge, personally as a high school student.
Several said they interacted with him extensively through sporting events, dances, parties and other socializing or the phone calls that occupied teenage weeknights in the pre-texting era.
Some have been taken aback by the attention. Many have stayed mum to avoid “the media frenzy,” signer Maura Kane told Fox News.
Julie Devol told the AP she didn’t really anticipate the letter would provoke such intense interest, though she sensed Kavanaugh’s critics “would do anything” to delay his confirmation vote.
When word of a high-school-era sexual misconduct allegation against Kavanaugh emerged last Thursday afternoon, Meghan Mccaleb and her husband, Scott, thought they and other high school friends of the nominee needed to speak out.
Meghan Mccaleb said she launched the letter-writing effort after discussing it with some of Kavanaugh’s former law clerks. She said she contacted friends, who contacted more friends, and they had 65 signatures by the next morning.
Some of the signers are conservative, such as podcaster and former Republican National Committee spokeswoman Virginia Hume. Others are Democrats.
“This has nothing to do with politics,” said one of the signers, Megan Williams. “It’s just about character.”
Mccaleb said “I’m not certain” when asked on Fox News whether she believed Ford, a friend of a friend who went to the same local pool Ford did. “She alleges that she had this traumatic event, and I feel like it is not the Brett Kavanaugh that we know.”
Women who signed the letter said they didn’t know about or recall the party Ford described, and they said her account of a “stumbling drunk” Kavanaugh didn’t jibe with their memories of a boy who drank some beer alongside them but never lost control or crossed a line with girls.