The embattled nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court suffered another blow Sunday night with The New Yorker publishing a detailed account of an alleged sexual assault that occurred when Kavanaugh was an undergraduate at Yale. Deborah Ramirez, who had been a classmate of Kavanaugh, recounted to The New Yorker an incident where Kavanaugh allegedly “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.” There are aspects of Ramirez’s story that are murky or uncertain. Because she had been drinking that night, she acknowledges gaps in her memory. Still, it’s a credible allegation backed up by the fact that at least one fellow student heard a version of the story soon after it took place. Students Ramirez recalls as participating in the event dispute her account. Ramirez has called for an FBI investigation into her allegations.
Kavanaugh denies Ramirez’s account in the strongest terms and both the White House and Senate Republicans are sticking with the nominee.
While The New Yorker story was cautious, containing many provisos about the limits and uncertainty of the evidence, swashbuckling Michael Avenatti intervened in the controversy with typical gusto by tweeting he has evidence that Kavanaugh and and his high school friend Mark Judge “would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them.” Judge is also named as a participant and witness of the alleged sexual assault on Christine Blasey Ford by Kavanaugh. Judge denies this accusation.
Avenatti’s claim was presented without evidence, although the lawyer, best known for representing adult entertainer Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, in her legal battles with the president, said he would provide proof soon.