With all that has gone on with the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanuagh, some allegations have slipped through the crack. This is one that was missed.
During an interview with Kavanaugh on Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee staff questioned the judge about an anonymous letter Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) received from a constituent. The letter is a 2-and-a-half page handwritten letter. The envelope said "urgent" on the front, had no date on it, no return address, no name associated with it and the letter had no allegation date. The letter was postmarked Sept. 19, 2018.
Here's the letter in question:
Dear, Senator Grassley, et al.
The current situation regarding the accusations made by Dr. Ford against Brett Kavanaugh have prompted me to write you today. I have moved on with my life since he forced himself on me as well. The times were so different, and I didn’t expect to be taken seriously, embarrass my family, be believed at all. I was at a party with a friend. I had been drinking. She left with another boy, leaving me to find my own way home. Kavanaugh and a friend offered me a ride home. I don’t know the other boy’s name. I was in his car to go home. His friend was behind me in the backseat. Kavanaugh kissed me forcefully.
I told him I only wanted a ride home. Kavanaugh continued to grope me over my clothes, forcing his kisses on me and putting his hand under my sweater. ‘No,’ I yelled at him. The boy in the backseat reached around, putting his hand over my mouth and holding my arm to keep me in the car. I screamed into his hand. Kavanaugh continued his forcing himself on me. He pulled up my sweater and bra exposing my breasts, and reached into my panties, inserting his fingers into my vagina. My screams were silenced by the boy in the backseat covering my mouth and groping me as well. Kavanaugh slapped me and told me to be quiet and forced me to perform oral sex on him. He climaxed in my mouth. They forced me to go into the backseat and took turns raping me several times each.
They dropped me off two blocks from my home. ‘No one will believe if you tell. Be a good girl,’ he told me. Watching what has happened to Anita Hill and Dr. Ford has me petrified to come forward in person or even provide my name. A group of white men, powerful senators who won’t believe me, will come after me. Like Dr. Ford, I’m a teacher, I have an education, a family, a child, a home. I have credibility. Just because something happens a long time ago, because a rape victim doesn’t want to personally come forward, does not mean something can’t be true.
Jane Doe
Oceanside, California.
Committee staff mistakenly failed to send a copy of the letter to Kavanaugh and his team before the interview. The Commitee staff read the letter to him before asking follow-up questions.
"Is there -- is there a date, a place, anything?" Kavanaugh asked.
Commitee staff told him there was no identifying information.
"Nothing -- the whole thing is ridiculous. Nothing ever -- anything like that, nothing. I mean, that's -- the whole thing is just a crock, farce, wrong, didn't happen, not anything close," Kavanaugh responded.
The Committee proceeded to ask him standard questions:
Staff: Okay. I'm going to go through a few of the specific allegations just to have your responses. Have you ever kissed a woman against her will while driving her home from a party? Judge Kavanaugh. Can you repeat that answer?
Kavanaugh: No.
Staff: Have you ever put a hand under a woman's sweater while your -- while your friend put his hand over her mouth or held her arm?
Kavanaugh: No.
Staff: Have you ever put your hand under a 4 woman's sweater after she told you she only wanted a ride 5 home?
Kavanaugh: No.
Have you ever put a hand under a woman's sweater after she yelled "no?"
Kavanaugh: No.
Have you ever had a friend silence a woman while you were engaged in a physical encounter with her?
Kavanaugh: No.
Have you ever used fingers to penetrate a woman's vagina against her will?
Kavanaugh: No.
Have you ever slapped a woman and told her to be quiet while forcing her to perform oral sex on you?
Kavanaugh: No.
Have you and a friend ever taken turns raping a woman?
Kavanaugh: No.
Have you ever told a woman you assaulted 23 "no one will believe if you tell, be a good girl?"
Kavanaugh: No.
The most interesting thing to note was a Committee staffer's note for the record:
And I just want to note for the record that separate from Dr. Ford's allegations, we now have these six allegations that have been made against Judge Kavanaugh very late in the proceedings. And this is after the FBI has conducted six full field background investigations going back 25 years to 1993. We've had -- we've had 60 -- Judge Kavanaugh has had 65 meetings with senators. He has had numerous staff investigator interviews with the chairman and ranking member staff. He has denied all of these allegations.
We have had 4 days of a public hearing with 32 hours of testimony from Judge Kavanaugh. We had a closed session where sensitive matters could've been raised. These issues were not raised then. We've had 1,300 written questions submitted to Judge Kavanaugh after his hearing. He has responded to those questions. This is more questions and answers than all prior Supreme Court nominees combined.
Now the question becomes what did the Committee find, if anything, and what was the purpose of Jane Doe sending her allegations if she failed to provide any details that allowed the FBI and the Committee to investigate?
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