Brett Kavanaugh And Pals Drugged Women For Rapes: New Accuser
WASHINGTON, DC — A third woman has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, this time accusing President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee of spiking drinks with his friends to take advantage of vulnerable girls. Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who represents adult film star Stormy Daniels, tweeted Wednesday that he is representing Julie Swetnick and released a sworn declaration from her accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
Swetnick, a graduate of Gaithersburg High School in Maryland who lives in Washington, D.C., says she met Kavanaugh at a house party in the D.C.-area in the early 1980s. She says she personally saw Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge drug girls’ drinks to make it easier to sleep with them.
“During the years 1981-82, I became aware of efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh and others to ‘spike’ the ‘punch’ at house parties I attended with drugs and/or grain alcohol so as to cause girls to lose their inhibitions and their ability to say ‘No,'” Swetnick said in the declaration.
She said she avoided the punch at the parties and that Kavanaugh, Judge and others targeted certain girls who they thought they could take advantage of. They were often vulnerable because they were alone or shy, Swetnick said.
“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 a side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys. I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.”
Swetnick said she was the victim of a gang rape around 1982 and that both Judge and Kavanaugh were present. She said she was incapacitated at the time and couldn’t fight off her rapists. She thinks they spiked her drink with Quaaludes — the powerful drug that gained notoriety in Bill Cosby’s assault case — or something similar.
On Wednesday, Kavanaugh denied Swetnick’s allegation.
“This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened,” he said in a statement.
Trump attacked Avenatti on Twitter on Wednesday, saying he’s just seeking the spotlight.
“Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” Trump tweeted. “He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships – a total low-life!”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told CNBC the president still has confidence in Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Avenatti called Swetnick strong and courageous for coming forward and said she has multiple security clearances issued by the federal government. The lawyer called out Trump, Kavanaugh and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, by name Tuesday, threatening to “respond in kind and then some” should they choose to attack his client. The Senate panel plans to hold a hearing Thursday where both Kavanaugh and professor Christine Blasey Ford plan to testify.
Ford, a California research psychologist, says Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed and groped her in the 1980s while a second boy watched. Another woman accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at a Yale party when he was in college.
In prepared written testimony Kavanaugh plans to give Thursday, the judge denied Ford’s allegations specifically, as well as all other ” false and uncorroborated accusations” against him.
“There has been a frenzy to come up with something — anything, no matter how far-fetched or odious — that will block my nomination,” the statement said.
Kavanaugh acknowledged drinking with friends during his high school days, but vehemently denied the allegations, calling them last-minute “smears.”
“They debase our public discourse,” the statement said. “And the consequences extend beyond any one nomination. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country.”
Here is a picture of my client Julie Swetnick. She is courageous, brave and honest. We ask that her privacy and that of her family be respected. pic.twitter.com/auuSeHm5s0
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) September 26, 2018
Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images