A week after California professor Christine Blasey Ford alleged that an intoxicated Judge Brett Kavanaugh groped her at a high-school party in 1982, a second woman -- Deborah Ramirez -- leveled a sexual misconduct accusation against the president's Supreme Court nominee.
In a report published by The New Yorker, Ramirez recounted that at a 1983 dorm party for at Yale University, then-18-year-old college freshman Kavanaugh exposed his genitals. Ramirez stated that while she was drunk at the time, she clearly heard that the people around her identified the flasher as "Brett Kavanaugh."
Kavanaugh responded quickly with statement of denial, writing,
In an interview on Monday, Kavanaugh affirmed his rejections of the accusers' narratives, saying, "I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends."
Surprisingly, while they did not explicitly endorse these denials from Kavanaugh, members of the mainstream media -- which typically takes a progressive perspective that is favorable to the Democratic Party -- questioned the validity of the report.
POLITICO reported on the media's questions, writing,
ABC's George Stephanopoulos, of course, was a top member of the Bill Clinton administration, serving as director of communications and special adviser to the president. In addition, Stephanopoulos was a large contributor to the Clinton Foundation.
Kavanaugh will testify before the Senate about the accusations leveled against him on Thursday. In the interview on Monday, the judge said, “I know I’m telling the truth. ... I’m not going to let false accusations drive me out of this process."
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| Judge Brett & Ashley Kavanaugh |
In a report published by The New Yorker, Ramirez recounted that at a 1983 dorm party for at Yale University, then-18-year-old college freshman Kavanaugh exposed his genitals. Ramirez stated that while she was drunk at the time, she clearly heard that the people around her identified the flasher as "Brett Kavanaugh."
Kavanaugh responded quickly with statement of denial, writing,
This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name—and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building—against these last-minute allegations.
In an interview on Monday, Kavanaugh affirmed his rejections of the accusers' narratives, saying, "I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends."
Surprisingly, while they did not explicitly endorse these denials from Kavanaugh, members of the mainstream media -- which typically takes a progressive perspective that is favorable to the Democratic Party -- questioned the validity of the report.
POLITICO reported on the media's questions, writing,
Throughout Monday, TV interviewers pressed Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, the authors of the piece, on the Sunday night story’s disclosure that the accuser, Deborah Ramirez, acknowledged holes in her memory of a dorm party she said occurred in Kavanaugh’s freshman year at Yale.
The pair also faced questions over their lack of corroborating eye-witnesses to support Ramirez’s recollection that Kavanaugh 'thrust his penis in her face and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away,' though the story cited a classmate of Ramirez's who said he heard about the incident shortly after it occurred and several others who attested to her character.
On ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday morning, Farrow said, 'We wouldn’t have run this if we didn’t have a careful basis of people who had heard at the time and found her credible.'
Host George Stephanopoulos replied: 'But by your own admission, no eye witnesses of the incident.'
Farrow said that was true but added that Ramirez considered her account carefully before going on the record. 'This is not the behavior of someone who is fabricating something,' he said. Pressed on why it took her six days to take stock of her memories, Farrow replied that, in his experience reporting on women accusing men of abuse, 'that’s extremely typical of these stories.'
ABC's George Stephanopoulos, of course, was a top member of the Bill Clinton administration, serving as director of communications and special adviser to the president. In addition, Stephanopoulos was a large contributor to the Clinton Foundation.
Kavanaugh will testify before the Senate about the accusations leveled against him on Thursday. In the interview on Monday, the judge said, “I know I’m telling the truth. ... I’m not going to let false accusations drive me out of this process."
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