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The White House on Wednesday shot back at a bombshell allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, releasing a letter signed by dozens of the judge’s alleged associates who say the accusations against him are “nonsense.”
The letter was sent out hours after lawyer Michael Avenatti published via Twitter a sworn declaration from his client Julie Swetnick, alleging that Kavanaugh and teenage boys in the early 1980s had purposefully intoxicated girls at high school parties to make them “lose their inhibitions and their ability to say ‘no'” to sex.
Kavanaugh, 53, who is facing allegations of sexual misconduct from two other women regarding other decades-old incidents, denied the allegation as “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone.”
The 64 signatories of the White House’s letter agreed, saying in the letter, “We never witnessed any behavior that even approaches what is described in this allegation. It is reprehensible.”
The letter goes even further, adding that “in the extensive amount of time we collectively spent with Brett, we do not recall having ever met someone named Julie Swetnick.”
Avenatti, a fierce critic of President Donald Trump who is currently embroiled in a separate lawsuit against the president, told CNBC that “This letter is complete garbage.”
“There’s no showing as to how each one of these women knew Brett Kavanaugh, what their relationships were to Brett Kavanaugh,” Avenatti added. “There’s no basis to this.”
Kavanaugh attended the elite all-boys high school Georgetown Preparatory. Swetnick, 55, graduated from Gaithersburg High School in 1980, three years before Kavanaugh graduated. Both schools are located in Maryland, roughly nine miles apart.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNBC earlier Wednesday that the White House “stands with Kavanaugh” in the wake of the new allegations against him.
Kavanaugh had already categorically denied two other allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced in mid-September. Christine Blasey Ford, 51, alleged in a letter obtained in late July by Sen. Dianne Feinstein that Kavanaugh had pinned her to a bed and tried to undress her while drunk at a party in the early 1980s.
On Sunday, Deborah Ramirez alleged in The New Yorker that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to her at a party when they were classmates at Yale University.
Kavanaugh said the accusations, both of which were revealed after the nominee had finished testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, were a “coordinated effort to destroy my good name.”
“The last-minute character assassination will not succeed,” Kavanaugh added in his letter to committee leaders Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Feinstein. He vowed not to withdraw his nomination.
Read the full letter below:
September 26, 2018
The Honorable Charles Grassley
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate 135 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510Dear Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein:
We are men and women who knew Brett Kavanaugh well in high school. We have seen reports today that Julie Swetnick, who says she graduated from Gaithersburg High School, submitted a declaration to the Committee alleging that Brett participated in horrific conduct during high school, including targeting girls for gang rape. Nonsense. We never witnessed any behavior that even approaches what is described in this allegation. It is reprehensible.
In the extensive amount of time we collectively spent with Brett, we do not recall having ever met someone named Julie Swetnick. Nor did we ever observe Brett engaging in any conduct resembling that described in Ms. Swetnick’s declaration.
Brett Kavanaugh is a good man. He has always treated women with respect and decency.
He is a man of honor, integrity, and compassion. These shameful attacks must end. This process is a disgrace and is harming good people.
Russell Aaronson
Daniel Anastasi
Steve Barnes
Patrick Beranek
Michael Bidwill
Michael Boland
David Brigati
Missy Bigelow Carr
Sharon Crouch Clark
Steve Combs
Citsi Conway
Mark Daly
DeLancey Davis
Julie DeVol
Meg Williams Dietrick
Paula Duke Ebel
Michael Fegan
Maura Fitzgerald
Susan Fitzgerald
Jim Foley
Timothy Gaudette
James Gavin
William Geimer
Mary Beth Greene
Mary Ellen Greene
Daniel Hanley
Melissa Hennessy
Beccy Moran Jackson
Brian H. Johnston
Maura Kane
Kevin Kane
Thomas Kane
Amarie Kappaz
George M. Kappaz
Timothy Kirlin
Kelly Leonard
Maura M. Lindsay
John F. Loome, IV
Suzanne Matan
Meghan McCaleb
Scott McCaleb
Bernard McCarthy, Jr.
Michael R. McCarthy
Stephanie McGill
Stephanie McGrail
Byron J. Mitchell
Sean Murphy
Paul G. Murray
Douglas D. Olson
John F. Ostronic
Elizabeth (Betsy) Manfuso Pothier
Matthew Quinn
Mark A. Quinn
Mae Joyce Rhoten
Mark Richardson
L. Maurice Rowe, IV
Stephen Royston
Alice Kelley Scanlon
James Sullivan
Cynthia Urgo
Donald Urgo, Jr
Patrick T. Waters
Megan Williams
Jodi Yeager