Tables turn on judge in sex probe

WASHINGTON: To some, Brett Kavanaugh is clearing his name. To others, he’s veering into conspiracy theory.

But in blaming “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” for the sexual misconduct allegations against him, the Supreme Court nominee is drawing new attention to his time on the Kenneth Starr team investigating Bill Clinton. And in doing so, he’s shown he can deliver a Trump-like broadside against detractors even if it casts him in a potentially partisan light.

As a young lawyer, Mr Kavanaugh played a key role on Mr Starr’s team investigating sexual misconduct by then-president Bill Clinton, helping to shape one of the most salacious chapters in modern political history.

Mr Kavanaugh spent a good part of the mid-1990s jetting back and forth to Little Rock, Arkansas, digging into the Clintons’ background, according to documents that were made public as part of his nomination to the Supreme Court.

It was Mr Kavanaugh who pushed Mr Starr to ask Mr Clinton, in graphic detail, about the nature of his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In a memo from 1998, Mr Kavanaugh wrote that Mr Starr should ask Mr Clinton whether he engaged in phone sex and specific sexual acts with her.

Mr Starr took Mr Kavanaugh’s advice. His resulting report ultimately presented evidence that Mr Clinton, in denying the affair, lied under oath. The report became the grounds for Mr Clinton’s impeachment.

Now it’s Mr Kavanaugh who is facing sexual misconduct allegations, including from Christine Blasey Ford, who said he groped her at a party when they were teens and tried to remove her clothes. And it’s Mr Kavanaugh who had to speak publicly in personal, painful detail. In his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr Kavanaugh denied assaulting Ms Ford or anyone else. He put the blame partly on the Clintons.

“This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit,” Mr Kavanaugh testified. He said it was being fueled by “pent-up anger’’ over the 2016 election and outside groups stoking fear about his judicial record. In an emotional outburst, he also said it was revenge on behalf of the Clintons.

The “revenge’’ line has reverberated this week as senators await the results of an FBI background check into the allegations against Mr Kavanaugh. Democrats have called the comment a breach of judicial impartiality that should be disqualifying on its own, while Republicans said he had every right to be upset.

At last week’s hearing, Democratic senators were stunned. “Is it your testimony — that the motivation of the courageous woman who sat where you did just a short time ago was revenge on behalf of a leftwing conspiracy or the Clintons?’’ asked Senator Richard Blumenthal.