US: Third woman accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct
Julie Swetnick’s allegations come a day before Kavanaugh is due at a public hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
One more woman on Wednesday accused United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. This is the third sexual assault or misconduct allegation against the judge.
Julie Swetnick, a resident of Washington DC, said she was gangraped in 1982 at a party, according to her declaration tweeted by her lawyer Michael Avenatti.
Swetnick alleged she had attended parties where Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge would spike girls’ drinks to make it easier for them to be gangraped. “I 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,” she wrote. “In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present.” Swetnick’s three-page declaration has been sent to the counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, reported CNBC.
Earlier, Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by two other women. The new allegations come a day before Kavanaugh is due at a public hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, has accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her in the 1980s when both of them were in high school.
Donald Trump condemned the woman’s lawyer Avenatti on Twitter. “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,” he tweeted. “He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships – a total low-life!”
Kavanaugh has denied all the allegations so far. “This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone,” he said, according to The Guardian. “I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”
Kavanaugh is a District of Columbia appeals court judge and served as an advisor to former President George W Bush. In order to be appointed to the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh’s nomination must now be confirmed by the US Senate, which the Republican Party narrowly controls 51-49. A nominee needs a simple majority of 51 votes to be confirmed. Democrats have called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to postpone its vote until the allegations are investigated.