Hours before Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape her in high school, a fourth woman has come forward to the committee, according to NBC News. The new allegations, submitted in the form of a complaint sent to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner which was obtained by NBC, were reportedly discussed with Kavanaugh on a call with Senate investigators.
From NBC:
Republican Senate investigators asked Kavanaugh about the new complaint, NBC News has learned, during a phone call on Tuesday between Kavanaugh and committee staff. Sources told NBC News that Kavanaugh denied the allegation in the letter during the call and a spokesman for the committee declined to comment. [...]
According to an anonymous complaint sent to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman he socialized with in the Washington, D.C., area in 1998 while he was inebriated. [...]
“When they left the bar (under the influence of alcohol) they were all shocked when Brett Kavanaugh, shoved her friend up against the wall very aggressively and sexually.”
“There were at least four witnesses including my daughter.” The writer of the letter provided no names but said the alleged victim was still traumatized and had decided to remain anonymous herself.
This is the first complaint about Kavanaugh sexually harassing or assaulting a woman in his post-college years. Deborah Ramirez says that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when both were freshman at Yale, and the alleged assault of Christine Blasey Ford took place when Kavanaugh was in high school. Earlier on Wednesday, Julie Swetnick accused Kavanaugh of engaging in “highly inappropriate conduct, including being overly aggressive with girls, and not taking ‘No’ for an answer,” as well as being “present” when she was “gang raped” while too inebriated to consent.
A Democratic source told NBC News that they were unsatisfied by Republicans’ questions about the alleged incident during the call with Kavanaugh. The source called the questions “cursory” and said the allegations merited deeper investigation.
In a chaotic press conference tonight, President Trump said that he would consider withdrawing Kavanaugh’s nomination if he “thought he was guilty of something like this.” Trump was also clear that he whole-heartedly believes Kavanaugh’s denials.
Splinter has reached out to both the White House and Kavanaugh’s attorney, Beth Wilkinson, for comment on the new allegations. We’ll update when and if we get a response.
Update, 8:51 pm: After another new accusation from the transcript of a call between Senate Republicans and Kavanaugh emerged, Senate Democratic staffers are reportedly speculating that Republicans are intentionally releasing shaky accusations to undermine those that are more credible.
Clarification: This post’s headline has been changed to clarify that the person making the accusation was not the one who was allegedly assaulted.