The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
⏩ Third accuser comes forward on eve of Kavanaugh hearing.
On the eve of a showdown hearing, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the senators who will judge him confronted a third set of lurid allegations Wednesday accusing him of sexual misconduct as a young man. Kavanaugh heatedly denied them all, while Democrats complained about a rush to approval, and President Donald Trump said the accusations added up to no more than “a con job.”
Trump praised Kavanaugh at a news conference Wednesday, but in answer to a question he said he could consider changing his mind on the nomination if testimony by Kavanaugh-accuser Christine Blasey Ford is totally convincing. He said of the allegations by her and others, “If I thought he was guilty of something like this ... yeah, sure.”
As with the allegations by two previous accusers, the latest incidents are alleged to have occurred decades ago. In a sworn declaration, Julie Swetnick, of Washington, D.C., said she witnessed Kavanaugh “consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.” Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, provided the declaration to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate investigators have also asked Kavanaugh about an anonymously lodged accusation that in 1998 he shoved a woman he was dating against a wall in an aggressive and sexual manner while both were under the influence of alcohol. The allegation was sent to Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado by the parent of a woman who says she witnessed the alleged incident.
Republican leaders indicated they were still determined to have the committee vote on recommending Kavanaugh on Friday — after a dramatic Thursday hearing at which both Kavanaugh and Ford are to testify. A roll call presumably would follow next week by the full Senate, where Republicans hold a scant 51-49 majority.
Timing is critical. Kavanaugh would likely cement a conservative tilt to the Supreme Court for years to come, but that could be thrown into doubt if he cannot be confirmed before November elections that might swing Senate control to the Democrats. Republicans, therefore, are anxious to get to the vote, while Democrats insist there should be a time-out to investigate the women’s allegations.
There are scattered hints of GOP hesitancy.
Kavanaugh supporter Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, was asked as he left a closed-door luncheon attended by Vice President Mike Pence whether GOP senators remained united behind Kavanaugh. His answer: Republicans are impressed by the judge and don’t know the accusers and “I think that goes to his advantage.”
Susan Collins, of Maine, a pivotal moderate who has not announced her position, said she was taking Swetnick’s claims seriously.
Kavanaugh, the 53-yearold appeals court judge, released a statement denying the Swetnick accusations.
“This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened,” he said.
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted that about 20 committee investigators are “tracking down all allegations/leads & talking to all witnesses & gathering all evidence.”
The committee also released a two-page prepared statement from Kavanaugh for Thursday’s hearing in which he “categorically and unequivocally” denied Ford’s allegation. She has said he forced her into a room at a high school party, held her on a bed and tried removing her clothes as he muffled her mouth with his hands. Ford said she eventually escaped.
Kavanaugh’s written testimony for the committee went a bit further than the description of his youthful behavior he gave in a Fox News Channel interview Monday, when he said “people” may have drunk too much at high school parties.
“I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends. Sometimes I had too many. In retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now,” Kavanaugh said.
He also provided the committee with detailed calendar pages listing in green-and-white squares the activities that filled his summer of 1982 when he was 17 years old — exams, movies, sports and plenty of parties.
That’s the year when Ford says she believes the assault occurred.
The May through August pages mention several parties at various houses and also a beach week, highlighted in all caps, the week after Kavanaugh’s exams. Nothing on the calendar appears to mention Ford, who has said she was a “friendly acquaintance” of Kavanaugh’s at the time.