Tipsheet

CNN's Tapper: There Is No Corroborating Evidence For Any Of The Allegations Against Kavanaugh

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  September 27, 2018 3:05 PM

Christine Blasey Ford has just finished testifying. Judge Brett Kavanaugh is next. Was there anything earth shattering? The needle didn’t move, no new evidence was offered—we’re back to square one: he said, she said. There are no corroborative witnesses to verify this claim that is nearly 40 years old. Ford alleges that a drunken 17-year-old Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a house party, a party where she can’t remember the time, place, location, or how she got there. These allegations are nowhere near credible, despite what Democrats say. The witness affidavits Ford’s lawyers turned over are not corroborative either. CNN’s Jake Tapper aptly noted prior to the hearing that there’s no evidence to back any of Ford’s accusations.

The fourth and fifth accusations against the judge have been nixed. One involved a man from Rhode Island who lobbed another sexual assault accusation, but recanted, saying he made a mistake. The other involved an anonymous letter sent to Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-CO) office, which had no contact information. That leaves us with Deborah Ramirez, who says Kavanaugh exposed himself at a Yale college party, and Julie Swentick, who says Kavanaugh was part of a gang-rape ring in high school. Her charge is the most ludicrous. Again, all three have zero evidence and witnesses to corroborate these serious allegations, but Swetnick might be the most far-fetched, namely that she was a college-aged woman who hung out with kids from high school, reportedly witnessed all of this debauchery, including possible gang rapes, and then went back 10 times and didn’t tell anyone about it until now. It’s as shoddy as they come  (via Free Beacon) [emphasis mine]:


Tapper and Wolf Blitzer anchored special coverage of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford will testify on Thursday.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly sexually assaulting her at a high school party in the early 1980s. Her therapist's notes in 2012 show she accused Kavanaugh of the act in a session with her husband, although her account of who was at the party has shifted over time, and no other witnesses have been able to confirm her charges. She is also unsure of the location and exact date of the attack.

"They're brutal accusations, and his denial is so unequivocal, that there's nothing that happened that he can even understand why these charges would be brought forward," Tapper said, calling them upsetting and significant. "At the same time, there is, as of now, no contemporaneous, corroborating evidence for any of the charges, as far as we know. We haven't seen anybody emerge and say, ‘Yes, I remember that.'"

With Ford finished for today, we wait on Kavanaugh, which should begin very soon.