2nd Kavanaugh accuser emerges as hearing is set for Thursday
WASHINGTON — The Senate Judici- ary Committee scheduled a hearing Thursday for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a woman who says he sexually assaulted her as a teenager, as a claim of sexual misconduct emerged from another woman.
The New Yorker magazine reported Sunday night that Senate Democrats were investigating a second woman’s accusation of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh dating to the 1983-84 academic year, Kavanaugh’s first at Yale University.
The New Yorker said Deborah Ramirez, 53, described the incident after being contacted by the magazine. Ramirez
recalled that Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away, the magazine reported.
Kavanaugh, in a statement provided by the White House, said the event “did not happen” and that the allegation was “a smear, plain and simple.”
A White House spokeswoman added in a second statement that the allegation was “designed to tear down a good man.”
The New Yorker said it contacted Ramirez after learning of a possible involvement in an incident with Kavanaugh and that the allegation came to Democratic senators through a civil rights lawyer. She had been considering speaking to the magazine for at least a week.
The magazine reported that Ramirez was reluctant at first to speak publicly “partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident.” She also acknowledged reluctance “to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty.”
The magazine reported that after “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections” to recall the incident.
The new information came hours after the Senate committee agreed to a time and date for a hearing after nearly a week of uncertainty over whether Ford would appear to tell her story.
The agreement and the latest accusation set the stage for a dramatic showdown as Kavanaugh and Ford each tell their side of the story. The developments could also determine the fate of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which hangs on the votes of a handful of senators.
It had seemed assured before Ford, 51, a California college professor, went public a Brett Kavanaugh still hopes to be confirmed by the Senate in time for the opening of the Supreme Court’s new term. week ago with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party when they were in high school.
Kavanaugh, 53, an appellate court judge, has denied Ford’s allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrangled with Ford’s lawyers for the last week over the terms of her appearance. She made several requests, some of which were accommodated — a Thursday hearing, three days later than originally scheduled, and a smaller hearing room with less press access to avoid a media circus. Grassley’s staff also agreed to let Ford testify without Kavanaugh in the room, for there to be only one camera in the room, “adequate” breaks and a high security presence.
But the committee said it would not negotiate on other points, including Ford’s desire for additional witnesses and a request to testify after, not before, Kavanaugh.
“The committee determines which witnesses to call, how many witnesses to call, in what order to call them, and who will question them. These are non-negotiable,” Mike Davis, Grassley’s top nominations counsel, wrote in an email exchange with Ford’s lawyers.
Ford’s lawyers said it was unclear who will ask questions, as Republicans were trying to hire an outside female counsel who could take over the questioning. The 11 senators on the GOP side of the dais are all men, which could send an unwanted message on live television against the backdrop of the #MeToo era.
Democratic senators were expected to ask their own questions.
“We were told no decision has been made on this important issue, even though various senators have been dismissive of her account and should have to shoulder their responsibility to ask her questions,” the attorneys for Ford said in a statement.
Kavanaugh plans to turn over to the committee calendars from the summer of 1982 that don’t show a party consistent with Ford’s description of the gathering in which she says he attacked her, The New York Times reported Sunday. The newspaper reported that it had examined the calendars and noted they list basketball games, movie outings, football workouts, college interviews, and a few parties with names of friends other than those identified by Ford.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate committee, sought “immediate postponement” of any further action on Kavanaugh's nomination amid the new report.
Feinstein sent a letter late Sunday to Grassley for the delay and also asked Grassley to have the FBI investigate both allegations.