Where to start? There were rumors and whispers about all of this last week. The White House, it was said, was bracing for additional women to come out and say that Brett Kavanaugh had abused them or assaulted them in some way. What’s interesting is that I’m pretty sure Kavanaugh let Senate Republicans know that he assaulted other women too, because they were already gearing up to fight any and all accusers. In fact, when the whispers of other Kavanaugh victims really started churning last week, that’s when Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley really tried to steamroll the nomination through to a vote, because none of the Republicans actually give a sh-t about women being raped or assaulted or abused.
As it turns out, shocking no one at this point, another woman has come forward. Brett Kavanaugh’s college years were just as rape-y and assault-y as his high school years, which is not surprising. Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer dropped their exclusive in the New Yorker last night – you can read it here. The opening:
As Senate Republicans press for a swift vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University. The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation. “This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,” Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, said. An aide in one of the other Senate offices added, “These allegations seem credible, and we’re taking them very seriously. If established, they’re clearly disqualifying.”
The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident. In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his pen1s in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident. “I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted,” she said.
[From The New Yorker]
At this very moment, Kavanaugh is denying this ever happened, and the White House is still standing by him, although things could change very quickly, I think.
Around the same time on Sunday evening, Michael Avenatti – lawyer to Stormy Daniels and now something of a women’s rights lawyer – tweeted this:
And that’s not all! Avenatti suggests that he has information about Kavanaugh and Mark Judge being part of a group of guys who would get women drunk and then gang rape them.
This week is going to be crazy.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
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