FBI interviews Kavanaugh accuser; Yale friend remembers heavy drinker
WASHINGTON — FBI agents on Sunday interviewed one of the three women who have accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct as Republicans and Democrats quarreled over whether the bureau would have enough time and freedom to conduct a thorough investigation before a high-stakes vote on his nomination to the nation’s highest court.
The White House insisted it was not “micromanaging” the new one-week review of Judge Kavanaugh’s background, but some Democratic lawmakers claimed the White House was keeping investigators from interviewing certain witnesses. President Donald Trump, for his part, tweeted that no matter how much time and discretion the FBI was given, “it will never be enough” for Democrats trying to keep Judge Kavanaugh off the bench.
And even as the FBI explored the past allegations that have surfaced against Judge Kavanaugh, another Yale classmate came forward to accuse the federal appellate judge of being untruthful in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the extent of his drinking in college.
In speaking to FBI agents, Deborah Ramirez detailed her allegation that Judge Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party in the early 1980s when they were students at Yale University, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of a confidential investigation. Judge Kavanaugh has denied Ms. Ramirez’s allegation.
The person familiar with Ms. Ramirez’s questioning, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said she also provided investigators with the names of others who she said could corroborate her account.
But Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who says Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, has not been contacted by the FBI since Mr. Trump on Friday ordered the agency to take another look at the nominee’s background, according to a member of Ms. Ford’s team.
Judge Kavanaugh has denied assaulting Ms. Ford.
In a statement released Sunday, a Yale classmate of Judge Kavanaugh’s said he is “deeply troubled by what has been a blatant mischaracterization by Brett himself of his drinking at Yale.” Charles “Chad” Ludington, who now teaches at North Carolina State University, said he was friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s at Yale and that Judge Kavanaugh was “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker.”
“On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer. When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive,” Mr. Ludington said. While saying that youthful drinking should not condemn a person for life, Mr. Ludington said he was concerned about Judge Kavanaugh’s statements under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., requested an investigation last Friday — after he and other Republicans on the panel voted along strict party lines in favor of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation — as a condition for his own subsequent vote to put Judge Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.