BE AFRAID, YOUNG MEN, BE VERY AFRAID
As Kav probe proceeds, Trump says: You can be guilty even if you’re not
President Trump on Tuesday claimed men face a “very scary time” in American history while women are apparently doing “great,” as assault allegations continued to pile up against his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump made the remarks on the South Lawn of the White House before departing for Pennsylvania and Mississippi for back-to-back rallies in support of Republican congressional candidates.
“It’s a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of,” Trump told reporters. “This is a very difficult time.”
Asked if he had a message to the country’s young women, Trump said, “Women are doing great.”
Trump’s comments came in the wake of revelations that Kavanaugh was questioned by New Haven, Conn., police in September 1985 after allegedly being involved in a bar fight, during which his friend and former New York Knick Chris Dudley was accused of hitting a patron with a glass. No charges appeared to have been filed in that case, but Dudley was arrested and Kavanaugh was accused of instigating the fight by throwing ice or beer at the man, according to a police report.
Dudley’s attorney, Mark Sherman, claimed his client wasn’t arrested in the fracas, insisting he went to a local police precinct “voluntarily.”
But the police report, the authenticity of which was confirmed by the Daily News, states Dudley was taken to a “detention facility by prisoner conveyance.” A capital “A” next to Dudley’s name also appears to confirm he was actually arrested.
Kavanaugh, 53, remains under FBI investigation over allegations that he sexually assaulted several women. Kavanaugh’s three identified accusers — Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick — all allege he was intoxicated when he assaulted or exposed himself to them.
The FBI finished interviewing Kavanaugh’s high school friend and alleged co-assailant Mark Judge on Tuesday afternoon, his attorney, Barbara Van Gelder, confirmed, declining to comment on the specifics of her client’s testimony. Ford, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, says Judge was in the room when Kavanaugh allegedly groped her at a high school party in Maryland — a claim Judge denies.
Charles Ludington, one of Kavanaugh’s classmates at Yale University who was present for the 1985 bar brawl, also sat down for an interview with FBI agents on Tuesday, according to reports. Ludington says Kavanaugh has been untruthful under oath about how much he drank in college and alleges the Supreme Court wannabe cursed out the man who Dudley ended up allegedly hitting with a glass.
Ramirez, who says Kavanaugh thrust his penis in her face at a dorm party at Yale, met with FBI agents for two hours on Sunday, according her lawyer, John Clune, who lauded the bureau for being “detailed and productive.”
However, Clune expressed concern
about the FBI “not conducting — or not being permitted to conduct — a serious investigation.”
“(Ramirez) provided the FBI the names and known contact information of additional witnesses (totaling more than 20) who may have corroborating information,” Clune tweeted. “We are not aware of the FBI affirmatively reaching out to any of those witnesses.”
Democrats have voiced concern that the White House and Republicans are trying to curtail the scope of the FBI’s investigation.
Neither Ford nor Swetnick had been contacted by the FBI as of late Tuesday, according to their lawyers.
During a campaign rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night, Trump broke days of relative restraint and openly mocked Ford over her inability to remember parts of Kavanaugh’s alleged attack.
“How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember.’ How’d you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember.’ How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know!’” Trump said, belittling Ford’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee. “‘I don’t know, but I had one beer, that’s the only thing I remember.’”
Psychologist and mental health experts have stressed that sexual assault survivors typically remember certain aspects of their attacks crystal clear while other details are suppressed.
In addition to Ramirez, Judge and Ludington, Kavanaugh’s high school pal P.J. Smyth and Ford’s friend Leland Keyeser have been interview by the FBI.
Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the decades-old allegations against him and vows he won’t withdraw his nomination.
The FBI is expected to deliver its findings to the Senate by Friday and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has made clear he wants to put Kavanaugh’s nomination up for a vote as soon as the investigation is over.
McConnell announced Tuesday afternoon that the FBI report on Kavanaugh will only be shared with senators and not made public. The top Senate Republican said he’s opting to keep the report under wraps as a matter of protocol. Democrats were outraged. “This is not the time for protocol. If the hearing was public and this is an essential addendum to the hearing, this should also be public,” a senior Democratic aide close to the confirmation process told The News, referencing Ford’s Judiciary Committee testimony last week. “That’s the whole point of doing this investigation at all.”
Also Tuesday, Democrats raised concerns about newly revealed text messages suggesting Kavanaugh may have lied during his testimony before the Judiciary Committee about when he found out about Ramirez’ accusations. According to the texts, which were first reported by NBC News, Kavanaugh spoke with several friends about preemptively refuting Ramirez’s allegations.
“If Brett Kavanaugh knew about Deborah Ramirez’s allegation of sexual assault before the publication of the Sept. 23 New Yorker story, then he lied to Congress. That’s a federal crime,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted.