Staff Reports
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is again denying a woman’s allegation he sexually assaulted her at a party three decades ago.
The White House released a new statement Monday from the nominee in which he calls the claim “completely false.” Kavanaugh says he never did what the accuser describes “to her or anyone.”
The woman, Christine Blasey Ford, came forward Sunday in an interview with The Washington Post to say a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.
Kavanaugh says in the statement he “had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself.”
Kavanaugh had been on a smooth confirmation track, but the new allegations have roiled that process.
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8:20 a.m.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway says a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school “should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.”
She says that’s up to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Conway told reporters Monday accuser Ford should “not be ignored or insulted.” Conway says Kavanaugh also should testify to the allegations, noting he has already provided testimony and has undergone FBI background checks.
Ford tells The Washington Post a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has “categorically” denied the allegations.
The White House says “Kavanaugh and the White House both stand by that statement.”
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7:30 a.m.
A lawyer for a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school says her client is willing to tell her story publicly to the Senate panel considering his nomination. She says the woman considers Kavanaugh’s actions “attempted rape.”
Debra Katz represents Ford, who tells The Washington Post a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers in the 1980s.
Katz told NBC’s “Today” show she “clearly considers this an attempted rape.”
Kavanaugh has “categorically” denied those allegations, a denial repeated Monday by the White House.
Katz tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” the accuser is “willing to cooperate” with investigators and the Senate Judiciary Committee. She says Ford, a Democrat, isn’t politically motivated.
The Republican-controlled Senate panel appears committed to a vote on Kavanaugh this week.
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This item has been corrected to show the spelling of the lawyer’s name is Debra, not Deborah.
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12:30 a.m.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation for the Supreme Court is taking an uncertain turn. Republican senators are expressing concern over a woman’s private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.
The White House and other Kavanaugh supporters had dismissed the allegation of sexual misconduct when it was initially conveyed in a private letter. With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the prospect of congressional Republicans defending President Donald Trump’s nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprecedented number of female candidates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement.
The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee appears nonetheless committed to a vote later this week despite calls by Democrats to postpone the vote.
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Material republished from The Associated Press.
One comment
David Moore
September 17, 2018 at 12:50 pm
The hearings show that Kavanaugh has lied under oath numerous times, and that should be enough.
The late coming allegations from a woman who may have known him 35 years ago is absurd.
She acknowledges long term mental health issues going back to at least 2012, and further admits to being drunk at a High School binging party in the 80’s.
Whether it’s her foggy recollection, a dreamed up scenario, or just a bitter eleventh hour retaliatory attempt we cannot know based on what has been presented.
Regardless, it is a dangerous precedent that needs thoroughly addressed under oath, and with cross-examination.
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