Report: Ex-lover filed order against Kavanaugh accuser
A woman who came forward Wednesday to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a friend of attending house parties where women — including herself — were sexually assaulted reportedly had a restraining order against her from an ex-boyfriend.
According to Politico, a Miami-dade County, Florida, court docket shows a petition for injunction against Julie Swetnick was filed March 1, 2001, by her former boyfriend, Richard Vinneccy, 63.
Thirteen days later, the case was dismissed after an affidavit of nonability to advance fees was filed, Politico reported.
According to Vinneccy, Swetnick threatened him after they broke up and even after he got married to his current wife and had a child, Politico reported.
“She’s not credible at all,” he told Politico. “Not at all.”
“I have a lot of facts, evidence, that what she’s saying is not true at all,” he told Politico. is and this never happened,” Kavanaugh said in a statement issued through the White House.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the committee, said,
“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it just did.”
“The lawyer to porn stars has just taken this debacle to an even lower level,” Graham said.
In New York, Trump also attacked Avenatti, calling him a third-rate lawyer to Democrats. “A total lowlife.”
Avenatti called Trump “an habitual liar and complete narcissist who also is a disgrace as president and an embarrassment to our nation.” The lawyer noted that Trump’s denial of an affair with Daniels and hush money led to the downfall of private attorney Michael Cohen.
‘Not a political sideshow’
Despite the swirling charges and countercharges, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., said the hearing would go forward Thursday and that a woman lawyer has been retained by the all white male GOP majority of the committee to question Ford.
“We have hired a female assistant to go on staff and ask these questions in a respectful way,” Mcconnell said.
The Republican leader said he wanted the hearing to be handled “professionally, not a political sideshow.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-nev., speaking on CNN, said it was up to senators, not lawyers, to ask questions in their role to advise and consent on presidential nominations to the high court.
“It is our role to ask the questions,” Cortez Masto said.
Grassley said committee lawyers were looking into the new allegations. He has called for a committee vote on the nomination Friday, setting up a potential full Senate vote on the confirmation as early as this weekend.
Ironically, Thursday’s hearing will be held on the 27th anniversary of the committee’s deadlocked vote on the nomination of Clarence Thomas, who had been accused of sexual harassment by a former subordinate, Anita Hill.
Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate. They can afford to lose only one Republican lawmaker to win a tie-breaker with Vice President Mike Pence if Democrats vote as a bloc, which also is in question.
Most lawmakers in the Senate, including Cortez Masto and Sen. Dean Heller, R-nev., have lined up along party lines. Heller praised Kavanaugh for his judicial record following a meeting with the jurist in July. Cortez Masto announced her opposition last week, citing judicial philosophy.
Neither one sits on the Judiciary Committee.
Senate moderates hold the key to the nomination. Two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have called on the committee and the Senate to hear out the allegations made by Ford.
And Sen. Jeff Flake, R-ariz., a frequent Trump critic and a lawmaker not seeking re-election, went to the Senate floor Wednesday to admonish his colleagues for turning the confirmation process into a political game that encourages harsh, divisive actions. He said he was still undecided on the nomination.
While the focus remains on the Republicans, several Democrats in states won by Trump in 2016 have yet to come out against the Kavanaugh nomination. Those include Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Bill Nelson of Florida.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@ reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter. Review-journal staff writer Debra J. Saunders contributed to this report.