New allegation against judge
United States
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called yesterday for a delay in further consideration of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after a second woman accused him of sexual misconduct.
‘‘I am writing to request an immediate postponement of any further proceedings related to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh,’’ Feinstein wrote in a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee’s GOP chairman.
Her letter came after the New Yorker magazine reported that Debbie Ramirez, a classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale University, said he exposing himself at a party when they were both firstyear students.
Ramirez, who told the magazine that they both had been drinking at the time of the incident, acknowledged some gaps in her memory but said she remembered another student shouting Kavanaugh’s name.
‘‘I would think an
FBI investigation would be warranted,’’ Ramirez said.
In a statement issued by the White House, Kavanaugh denied the accusation and called it ‘‘a smear, plain and simple.’’
‘‘I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name – and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building – against these lastminute allegations,’’ he said in the statement.
The new charge further roiled Kavanaugh’s nomination hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee had agreed to allow Christine Blasey Ford to testify Thursday, local time, about her claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers.
In her letter, Feinstein asked ‘‘that the newest allegations of sexual misconduct be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford as well as these new claims.’’
Republicans had agreed to delay a committee vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation until after the hearing with Ford took place, but many members of the GOP have said they are eager to move on with the process.
Before Ramirez’s allegation was made public, some Republican senators indicated that they were unlikely to waver in their support for Kavanaugh.
‘‘What am I supposed to do, go and ruin this guy’s life based on an accusation?’’ Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Fox News Sunday. Ford’s allegations that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party in the early 1980s would be too thin to hold up in court, Graham said.
‘‘I don’t know when it happened, I don’t know where it happened, and everybody named in regard to being there said it didn’t happen. I’m just being honest: Unless there’s something more, no, I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.’’
Democrats insisted yesterday that Kavanaugh’s denials were not believable, and a public appearance would do little to sway their support for Ford.
‘‘There are so many indications of his own lack of credibility,’’ Senator Mazie Hirono, D-hawaii, said of Kavanaugh on CNN’S State of the Union. Her concerns about Kavanaugh’s ‘‘very ideological agenda’’ and ‘‘inability to be fair,’’ she said, predate Ford’s allegations.
The New Yorker reported that at least four Democratic senators were aware of Ramirez’s account and at least two had begun investigating it.
The magazine described an incident in which a male student exposed himself to Ramirez during a party.
She acknowledged lapses in her memory of the episode, but said she remembered Kavanaugh standing to her right and laughing while he pulled up his pants, according to the magazine.