Brett Kavanaugh got a shock when a skeleton from his closet popped out.
Despite his unwillingness to answer questions concerning LGBTQ rights and issues, the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh was going well. It looked like the United States Circuit Judge would be getting an easy ride into the Supreme Court building.
But now, sexual misconduct allegations may get in the way of that.
Democratic politicians from the Senate judiciary committee have called in the FBI over sexual misconduct allegations from when Kavanaugh was in high school. A female classmate from Kavanaugh’s time at the Georgetown Preparatory School accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
On top of the FBI being called, the accuser has gotten in contact with sexual assault attorney Deborah Katz, says Law & Crime. In addition, there is no statute of limiations for sexual felonies.
Of course, Kavanaugh has outright denied the allegations and has released the following statement:
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
Many Republicans state that this is a desperate attempt to stall Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote.
This includes White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec who said to the New York Daily News:
“Throughout his confirmation process, Judge Kavanaugh has had 65 meetings with senators — including with Senator Feinstein — sat through over 30 hours of testimony, addressed over 2,000 questions in a public setting and additional questions in a confidential session,” Kupec said in a statement. “Not until the eve of his confirmation has Sen. Feinstein or anyone raised the specter of new ‘information’ about him.”
Meanwhile, HBO’s “Real Time” host Bill Maher said liberals’ attempt makes the U.S. look bad.
“Now they’re coming at him with this accusation from someone anonymous who said that he was at a party … but sexual assault in high school from an anonymous source, I think it makes us look bad,” Maher said.
As for Senator John Kennedy, he says the fact that democratic politicians brought out this info so late shows how even they think it’s incirumstancial.
"They’ve had this stuff for three months, if they were serious about it they should have told us about it,” Kennedy said according to Politico.
But despite what many see as a last ditch attempt to stall off Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote, the vote is still planned to roll this coming Thursday.
Will the vote become a straight party line shoot out? We’ll see soon.
Update (08/16/2018):
The formerly anonymous accuser has come forward to reveal her identity.
The accuser is Palo Alto University's psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford.
In a Washington Post article, Ford described the alleged incident. She says she was at a party with no parental supervision. She admits that she doesn't remember which house it was in, how she got to the party, and who threw it. She does remember, however, that the house where the party was located was in Montgomery County.
Ford says she was heading to an upstairs bathroom when she was pushed into a bedroom. There, she was confronted by a drunk Kavanaugh and one other teenage boy. She says Kavanaugh then pinned her to the bed and tried to force her clothing off.
"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," said Ford, who works as a research psychologist in California. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
Ford claims that she eventaully freed herself and sought safety in a nearby bathroom before slipping out of the house.
After Ford came forward with her identity, Kavanaugh denied the accusations for a second time.
Also in response, several Republicans have shared doubts at the credibility of Ford's story and have called out Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein allegedly had the accusation letter from Ford since July, but only now chose to bring it up.
"It’s disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
"If Ranking Member Feinstein and other Committee Democrats took this claim seriously, they should have brought it to the full Committee’s attention much earlier," he continued. "Instead, they said nothing during two joint phone calls with the nominee in August, four days of lengthy public hearings, a closed session for all committee members with the nominee where sensitive topics can be discussed and in more than 1,300 written questions."
There is still no word on whether Ford's allegations will lead to the Senate postponing Kavanaugh's confirmation vote.
Yesterday I would have said
Yesterday I would have said it will not matter, today, the anonymous accuser has come forward and granted an interview. A name and a face could change everything.