We have two women who have lobbed allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. They’re last minute. They’re shoddy. They’re evidence-free. That makes them ripe for Democrats to deploy their playbook and run out the clock on this nomination. It’s all about the delay. The first allegation, hurled by Christine Blasey Ford, involves an attempted sexual assault by a drunken 17-year-old Kavanaugh in high school. The second allegation dropped yesterday, with Deborah Ramirez alleging Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party while at Yale. This was the story that was published in The New Yorker:
The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident. In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had 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. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident. “I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted,” she said.
In a statement, Kavanaugh wrote, “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.”
[…]
Ramirez said that, when both she and Kavanaugh were freshmen at Yale, she was invited by a friend on the women’s soccer team to a dorm-room party. She recalled that the party took place in a suite at Lawrance Hall, in the part of Yale known as Old Campus, and that a small group of students decided to play a drinking game together. “We were sitting in a circle,” she said. “People would pick who drank.” Ramirez was chosen repeatedly, she said, and quickly became inebriated. At one point, she said, a male student pointed a gag plastic penis in her direction. Later, she said, she was on the floor, foggy and slurring her words, as that male student and another stood nearby.
A third male student then exposed himself to her. “I remember a penis being in front of my face,” she said. “I knew that’s not what I wanted, even in that state of mind.” She recalled remarking, “That’s not a real penis,” and the other students laughing at her confusion and taunting her, one encouraging her to “kiss it.” She said that she pushed the person away, touching it in the process. Ramirez, who was raised a devout Catholic, in Connecticut, said that she was shaken. “I wasn’t going to touch a penis until I was married,” she said. “I was embarrassed and ashamed and humiliated.” She remembers Kavanaugh standing to her right and laughing, pulling up his pants. “Brett was laughing,” she said. “I can still see his face, and his hips coming forward, like when you pull up your pants.” She recalled another male student shouting about the incident. “Somebody yelled down the hall, ‘Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie’s face,’ ” she said. “It was his full name. I don’t think it was just ‘Brett.’ And I remember hearing and being mortified that this was out there.”
100% agree that it should be noted that not one, but two journalists couldn’t find a single corroborating witness to confirm any details about their story. https://t.co/Bs6xSLe1Kk
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 24, 2018
With Ford, she can’t remember how the party came about, the house where it was held, or how she got there. Witnesses to her account have refuted it. With Ramirez, it’s the same case. It cannot be corroborated. Also, it seems like Democrats came looking for it, according to Ronan Farrow, who co-wrote this lengthy piece with Jane Mayer. He mentioned this on Good Morning America (via Free Beacon):
Ronan Farrow said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday that Senate Democrats came looking for Deborah Ramirez, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct while they were college students.
"She came forward because Senate Democrats began looking at this claim. She did not flag this for those Democrats. This came to the attention of people on the Hill independently and it’s really cornered her into an awkward position," Farrow said.
Where did the corroborating witness get the information from? -@JDickerson
— Norah O'Donnell???? (@NorahODonnell) September 24, 2018
“He remembers it from–he was in the same dorm .. and he remembers it clearly” -@JaneMayerNYer
But did he see it? -@JDickerson
“No. As I’ve said, he heard it from someone who was there.” -@JaneMayerNYer pic.twitter.com/h9dxDiPJeX
Oh, what corroborating witnesses that are backing up Ramirez weren’t even there; they heard it from other people. To show how shoddy this allegation is, The New York Timesdidn’t even do a piece on it because they couldn’t confirm anything. Oh, and apparently Ms. Ramirez wasn’t so sure that Kavanaugh exposed himself, as she called former Yale classmates to corroborate her claims [emphasis mine]:
Judge Kavanaugh’s prospects were further clouded on Sunday when The New Yorker reported on a new allegation of sexual impropriety: A woman who went to Yale with Judge Kavanaugh said that, during a drunken dormitory party their freshman year, he exposed himself to her, thrust his penis into her face and caused her to touch it without her consent.
In a statement, Judge Kavanaugh denied the allegation from the woman, Deborah Ramirez, and called it “a smear, plain and simple.” The New Yorker did not confirm with other eyewitnesses that Judge Kavanaugh was at the party.
The Times had interviewed several dozen people over the past week in an attempt to corroborate her story, and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ms. Ramirez herself contacted former Yale classmates asking if they recalled the incident and told some of them that she could not be certain Mr. Kavanaughwas the one who exposed himself.
Ms. Ford got an anti-Trump lawyer to represent her, and took a polygraph administered by an unknown former FBI agent. She wasn’t going to remain anonymous, despite reports that she wanted to stay out of the limelight. She was going to come forward. And now, with Ramirez, she comes forward just as Kavanaugh is nominated, and when Democrats were on a fishing expedition for more dirt of the judge. The timing of both allegations is incredibly suspect. The evidence is scarce if any, but Democrats think they can increase their 2018 midterm chances and possibly derail this nomination, and destroy a man’s life, whether the allegations are true or not. That’s quite disturbing.
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