Me Three
The day before Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a third woman has come forward to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. “Julie Swetnick said in the declaration, submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, that Kavanaugh and his friends, including Mark Judge, helped spike the drinks of girls at high school house parties to ’cause girls to lose inhibitions and their ability to say no. ‘I also witnessed efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped’ in the side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys.'” All Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee are calling for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn or for an FBI investigation to be started. So far, the GOP is standing firm on the nomination, and Kavanaugh called the latest allegations “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone.” Here’s the latest on the fast moving (even by today’s standards) story from CNN.
+ “Mark Judge spent decades mining his recollections and writing books and articles full of semi-confessional details about the suburban Maryland prep school he attended with future Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Now, though, Judge’s memory has drawn a blank.”
+ If Thursday’s hearing happens, an Arizona prosecutor will question Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. (I don’t know who’s telling the truth. But I do know that it’s a complete dereliction of duty for Senators to pass their responsibility onto a female prosecutor. Do your job or get out.)
+ Kavanaugh could be telling the truth about the incidents, but he has issued a series of small lies during this process. From WaPo’s Greg Sargent: Brett Kavanaugh and the moral ugliness of casual lying.
+ Here’s Kavanaugh’s prepared written testimony for Thursday’s hearing.
+ President Trump has decided to take over Kavanaugh’s defense himself and will hold his fourth news conference on the eve of the hearings. (This will leave people deciding who to believe: Three women who have nothing to gain and everything to lose by coming forward or a president who brags about sexual assault and who lies every time he speaks.)
