Perhaps it’s time to start writing letters accusing elected Democrats of inappropriate sexual conduct, especially stuff that occurred dozens of years ago while in school. By Democrats own talking points, those accusations should simply be believed, right? At the New Yorker, Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer lay out a story that also throws freezing water on the accusation
As Senate Republicans press for a swift vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University. The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation. “This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,†Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, said. An aide in one of the other Senate offices added, “These allegations seem credible, and we’re taking them very seriously. If established, they’re clearly disqualifying.â€
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.
Of course she does. Except, if any crime was committed, it was not a federal one. The FBI doesn’t investigate college kids getting drunk and stupid.
Essentially, Ramirez is claiming that she was at a party, they were playing a drinking game, she got drunk, and that she just knows, after thinking about it for days and days, that it was Brett Kavanaugh who exposed his penis to her and got her to touch it. She thinks.
Ramirez acknowledged that there are significant gaps in her memories of the evening, and that, if she ever presents her story to the F.B.I. or members of the Senate, she will inevitably be pressed on her motivation for coming forward after so many years, and questioned about her memory, given her drinking at the party.
The New Yorker has not confirmed with other eyewitnesses that Kavanaugh was present at the party. The magazine contacted several dozen classmates of Ramirez and Kavanaugh regarding the incident. Many did not respond to interview requests; others declined to comment, or said they did not attend or remember the party. A classmate of Ramirez’s, who declined to be identified because of the partisan battle over Kavanaugh’s nomination, said that another student told him about the incident either on the night of the party or in the next day or two. The classmate said that he is “one-hundred-per-cent sure†that he was told at the time that Kavanaugh was the student who exposed himself to Ramirez. He independently recalled many of the same details offered by Ramirez, including that a male student had encouraged Kavanaugh as he exposed himself. The classmate, like Ramirez, recalled that the party took place in a common room on the first floor in Entryway B of Lawrance Hall, during their freshman year. “I’ve known this all along,†he said. “It’s been on my mind all these years when his name came up. It was a big deal.†The story stayed with him, he said, because it was disturbing and seemed outside the bounds of typically acceptable behavior, even during heavy drinking at parties on campus. The classmate said that he had been shocked, but not necessarily surprised, because the social group to which Kavanaugh belonged often drank to excess. He recalled Kavanaugh as “relatively shy†until he drank, at which point he said that Kavanaugh could become “aggressive and even belligerent.â€
There are a bunch of people, most unnamed, who try and pull this, but they weren’t there. They don’t know. This is casting aspersions without evidence, which continues on. But, finally
One of the male classmates who Ramirez said egged on Kavanaugh denied any memory of the party. “I don’t think Brett would flash himself to Debbie, or anyone, for that matter,†he said. Asked why he thought Ramirez was making the allegation, he responded, “I have no idea.†The other male classmate who Ramirez said was involved in the incident commented, “I have zero recollection.â€
In a statement, two of those male classmates who Ramirez alleged were involved in the incident, the wife of a third male student she said was involved, and three other classmates, Dino Ewing, Louisa Garry, and Dan Murphy, disputed Ramirez’s account of events: “We were the people closest to Brett Kavanaugh during his first year at Yale. He was a roommate to some of us, and we spent a great deal of time with him, including in the dorm where this incident allegedly took place. Some of us were also friends with Debbie Ramirez during and after her time at Yale. We can say with confidence that if the incident Debbie alleges ever occurred, we would have seen or heard about it—and we did not. The behavior she describes would be completely out of character for Brett. In addition, some of us knew Debbie long after Yale, and she never described this incident until Brett’s Supreme Court nomination was pending. Editors from the New Yorker contacted some of us because we are the people who would know the truth, and we told them that we never saw or heard about this.â€
The former friend who was married to the male classmate alleged to be involved, and who signed the statement, said of Ramirez, “This is a woman I was best friends with. We shared intimate details of our lives. And I was never told this story by her, or by anyone else. It never came up. I didn’t see it; I never heard of it happening.†She said she hadn’t spoken with Ramirez for about ten years, but that the two women had been close all through college, and Kavanaugh had remained part of what she called their “larger social circle.†In an initial conversation with The New Yorker, she suggested that Ramirez may have been politically motivated. Later, she said that she did not know if this was the case.
So, the people who knew Kavanaugh best, and many who were supposedly at this part, categorically deny the allegation. And Ramirez has zero evidence.
Oh, and she’s a registered Democrat. Surprise?
The left made a mistake with this Ramirez story. It isn't just how embarrassingly flimsy it is; she was inebriated; took six days to find memories; everyone denies it. But it strongly suggests the Ford delay demands were about cooking this up. Destroys credibility all around.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2018
These people are shameless, and, fortunately for Democrats, we aren’t the type of people who would do this to Democratic nominees when a Democrat has a chance to nominate people to SCOTUS, right? Maybe we should start playing politics as dirty as Democrats.
The very fact that Brett Kavanaugh is refusing to remove himself from the nomination process, and his statements denying the allegations, should tell you all you need to know, namely, that these are false allegations.
And let’s add this in regards to the NY Times article on same
Read this paragraph from the New York Times, then re-read it. https://t.co/6Qt4UnW4F2 pic.twitter.com/ngigW5au5u
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 24, 2018
Confirm now.
Read: Shameless Democrats Trot Forth Another BS Allegation Towards Judge Kavanaugh »
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