Kavanaugh denies 2 new alleged sexual assaults
Complaints come on eve of Senate panel hearing
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was questioned by Congressional leadership staff Tuesday about two additional accusations of misconduct: a sexual assault and physical assault.
Both allegations were raised to members of Congress on the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Thursday hearing to question Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford about her allegation that he sexually assaulted her when both were in high school in the 1980s.
One of the allegations, accusing Kavanaugh of assaulting a woman while drunk in 1998, was made in an anonymous letter. The other was made by a Rhode Island man who says an acquaintance of his was the victim of a sexual assault by Kavanaugh.
The accusations were relayed to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which questioned Kavanaugh. USA TODAY has not vetted these claims and it’s unclear if they were ever reported to law enforcement or investigated.
But the two new allegations bring the total to five allegations of assault — all unsubstantiated — that have been lodged against Kavanaugh. He has strongly denied them all.
The letter was sent to Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Co. alleging Kavanaugh shoved a woman against a wall in Washington, D.C., while he was drunk in 1998.
The person who wrote the letter said their daughter socialized with Kavanaugh and was hanging out in a group of four in a Washington bar when the incident happened.
The letter noted there were at least four witnesses, including the author’s daughter. The victim of the incident called the author’s daughter and said she was “still traumatized” and decided to report it.
Kavanaugh denied the allegations and the others made against him.
“We’re dealing with an anonymous letter about an anonymous person and an anonymous friend,” he told the committee leadership on a telephone call. “It’s ridiculous. Total twilight zone. And no, I’ve never done anything like that.”
The incident would have happened while Kavanaugh was involved in Ken Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton over Monica Lewinsky.
Kavanaugh was also questioned about a second allegation from a Rhode Island man, whose name wasn’t released. The man called Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, and alleged a close “acquaintance” of his had been raped by two “heavily inebriated men she referred to at the time as Brett and Mark,” a transcript of the call shows.
“This is just completely made up, or at least not me,” Kavanaugh said of the allegations, according to the transcript of his interview with Judiciary Committee staff. “I don’t know what they’re referring to.”
He said he did not know anything about the boat or the incident.
Julie Swetnick, a client of attorney Michael Avenatti, alleged in a signed statement released Wednesday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would drink to excess and “engage in abusive behavior” toward teenage girls while he was in high school.
Two other women, Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, have come forward with allegations.