Michael Avenatti revealed his client as Julie Swetnick, a former student at Gaithersburg high School in Maryland, who attended parties in the early 1980s with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Swetnick claims that she saw Kavanaugh fondle and grope girls at high school parties and forcibly try to remove their clothing to reveal their private parts.
She also witnessed Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge trying to “spike” girls’ drinks at parties with drugs “so that they could be taken advantage of” and that she herself was a victim of a gang rape at a party when Kavanaugh was present…
Avenatti says his latest client is a victim of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh who is prepared to take her story public in the next 48 hours.
His claim has been met with more than a little skepticism — as has his prospective presidential bid. But Avenatti’s uncanny knack for drawing blood from the president and beating Trump at his own game has some top Democrats warning that the lawyer shouldn’t be dismissed outright as a factor in the Democratic presidential field.
“There’s no doubt about it. He’s been relentless and he’s been prescient, particularly about the things he’s been involved in. The Michael Cohen matter in particular. He predicted for months that Cohen would plead guilty and cooperate. He did. He predicted this whole deal with his client Stormy Daniels would unravel. It did,” said longtime Democratic strategist David Axelrod. “He has a particular utility right now, which is, with the people who are furious with Trump, he is the avenging angel.”….
Josh Barro
@jbarro
Republicans resist a subpoena for Mark Judge because it would be game over for Kavanaugh. The subpoena constitutes a stipulation that his testimony is important. Then he takes the Fifth. Then how can Rs proceed? Note this happens even if ONLY JUDGE has something to hide.
james, the fact that you are falling for this stuff, and using it to forward your own wishful thinking in such an unethical way does not speak highly towards you. As the father of sons, you should really examine yourself on this.
The more outrageous, outlandish, and unsubstantiated these claims get, the more likely it is that any potential wavering Republican Senator is going to do what you do not want them to do, and vote yes on the confirmation.
The above is completely ridiculous and really merits no response from James.
It also reeks of desperation in it’s defense of this Trump Republucan deviant.
I don’t believe for a second that Scott (or anyone else here) actually believes Brett Kavanaugh was involved in anything like this. However, he just does not care. The ends of keeping him off the Court justify the means, whatever they are. I can only imagine the kind of trash the left would invent if Kavanaugh were an African-American male from his supposed youth in order to assassinate his character.
Trump and the Left are one in the same.
Discussing this further in an online venue like this is pointless, but there is one thing worth mentioning.
I can totally understand why victims of sexual assault may not have report edit to anyone. We need to change the stigma of victimization so that anybody who is mistreated feels safe and understands why it is so important to report the incident.
However, this Avenatti claim says that this woman was present at parties where she knew “gang rapes” were occurring to unsuspecting women, but continued to attend them for “years.” She is saying she kept going back to parties on her own accord, where she knew rapes were occurring and she ran the risk of being raped.
There is not a shred of credibility to such a concept. According to what is being said here, there were literally dozens of rapists in this social circle, which would seem to increase the possibility that Dr. Ford was assaulted by someone else.
This would be quite a thing for six previous FBI background checks to miss.
The left just cannot help themselves on this and overreached too far. Justice Kavanaugh, if he is truly innocent, and I believe he is, and his family, are being put through something that nobody should have to be put through. The fact that he is willing to fight on to clear his name and protect the concept of men and women of all political stripes not being driven out of public service, instead of walking away and saying that it is not worth the cost, speaks to his innocence and his character.
“Trump and the left are one and the same”
Descent into madness
Total sanctimonious hypocrisy.
CG your argunent of –hey, she knew date rapes were happening so why did she keep going to these parties–is the same defense Bill Cosby’s lawyers used. How did that work out?
My guess is you have wisely decided to refrain from posting the rest of the day as you are completely nonsensical in your defense of Trump’s pick (while laughably claiming that “Trump and the left are one and the same”)
I don’t get the Bill Cosby comparison at all. With him, there was a clear, verifiable pattern of behavior that lasted decades.
james already confirmed what I said. Those of you commenting on these allegations (and I note that DSD and jack have refrained from doing so) don’t care if they are true or not. You simply want Democrats to “fight dirty.”
Shameful.
It is NOT shameful to fight for the FBI being allowed to reopen character investigations of someone up for a Supreme Court seat….
Jake Tapper
@jaketapper
Kavanaugh attorney Beth Wilkinson tells @wolfblitzer that Kavanaugh is NOT going to withdraw his nomination, & will continue to fight…
twitter….
So, six FBI investigations missed all of this, but you still trust them to get it right this time?
That’s fine. But there are no corroborating witnesses. Every single person alleged to be present when specific misconduct was alleged against Kavanaugh, have already denied, under penalty of perjury, that they witnessed him doing anything of the sort.
This is all about delay. Nothing else. The vote should be held. Let the FBI investigate whatever they want (let’s also have them investigate Juanita Broaddrick’s rape claim against Bill Clinton, since he gets a federal pension of course and Scott now concedes that Bill Clinton is a rapist since women have never lied) and if something comes up one day that shows Kavanaugh used to do horrible things or lied about them as part of this process, then move to impeach him and remove him from the Supreme Court.
That ought to be fair enough, unless all this is really about is a delay tactic, where any dishonest claim can thrown into the mix.
You are wrong. I do caew about the truth
One thing that I think is certainly not true is Kavanaugh’s insistence that he was some sort of choir boy.
I don’t believe that for a damn second
Do you?
Why is being a “choir boy” a pre-requisite for the Supreme Court or anything else? We all know that there is a big difference between not being a choir boy and being an attempted rapist.
So, he was in the “Keg Club” in High School and Obama was in the “Choom Gang.” So what? I am sure they both grew up, as have most people from their High School days. They do not deserve to be slandered in such a way.
I am sure you were not a choir boy in High School and I remember the time when you were you in your late 30s or early 40s, and showed up on this website drunk and threatened to kill me. James had to remove that post of course. In spite of that, I wouldn’t want you to be accused of something far worse for which there is zero evidence.
You completely miss my point. Not surprising in your current hysterical state.
Of course being a choir boy is not a prerequisite for being confirmed to the SC. My point was Kavenaugh painting himself as such was an obviois lie. As you noted there are many degrees between being a little angel and an attempted rapist. So why is he pushing this BS that he was the former in his defense that he was not the latter?
Have you heard the saying “thou doth protest too much”?
Applicable here.
At no point did he say he was a choir boy or did not drink in High School. His opening statement for tomorrow is already out, and you can read that for yourself.
I am sure you weren’t a choir-boy as a virgin either. You maybe even drank a bit. None of that is relevant to the scurrilous and baseless charges being made against him, which only appear more obvious with the completely ridiculous Avenatti insertion into the media firestorm.
The guy really is trying to follow the Trump Strategy to a Presidential nomination..
The allegation that he might have drank in High School is completely irrelevant. It has never before been any sort of standard for the Court or anything else in political life.
Otherwise, let’s have 9 Mormons on the Court. I may like their rulings.
(and even Mitt Romney admitted he drank when he was a young person)
I think actually he said to the female Dem Senator something to effect that he did not drink or hard party back in the day….
All of the people asked about him said the opposite
So he’s backtracked to cover himself…
Me and you are not applying for the job
Our past doesn’t count
Kavanaugh is going back to answer more questions from the committee
Christine Blasey Ford is speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee right now….
CBSNews Live Updates…..
I believe Kavanaugh has just disputed the ‘choir boy’ thing himself ….
A effort to claw back his ‘never’ declaration
Hey CG?
I’m going to repeat what I have posted here before….
I do NOT what happened between Kavanaugh….
Nor do I know what occurred with the guy anywhere in his past…
The allegations pertain to over 30 years ago….
Those points made?
For ANYBODY applying for a judgeship?
A Federal judgeship?
A Supreme Court job for life?
If women start showing up with the presented claims?
You bet your ass the FBI SHOULD be reopening his background check and making interviews….
Even you don’t know if any these claims have merit, do you?
You THINK they don’t…
But you don’t know, do you?
Heck?
We All THINK he has the votes…
But we don’t KNOW…
My view remains that before this is over?
His name and family are going to be dragged thru the mud over and over….
Is this political?
You BET!
I am happy and proud to see Democrats and Women finally standing up and pitching a fight after the last two years of watching the Grand Ole party under increasing leadership of Donald Trump get down and dirty like the Republicans…
My hope is that this action by the Republicans will alienate even MORE women against the fact that they are dismissed as irrelivent by those in power in the Grand Ole’ party and thye will get up answer with their votes against the party that has men who seek to marginalize them….
For the women defending the GOP IN GENERAL?
Shame on you…
You going the men that Republicans are screwing who keep coming back for more….
Update….
Jim Sciutto
@jimsciutto
Jim Sciutto Retweeted Courtney Norris
With GOP Sens. Flake and Murkowski both now deferring judgment, hard to see how McConnell can claim to already have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh.
Courtney Norris
@courtneyknorris
NOW: Sen. Jeff Flake: “I do not know how I will assess the credibility of these witnesses…I’ll have to listen to the testimony before I make up my mind…I don’t believe Dr. Ford is part of some vast conspiracy…as alleged by some on the right”
twitter…
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
All 10 Senate Judiciary Democrats to Trump: Withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination or direct the FBI to re-open its investigation and “thoroughly examine the multiple allegations of sexual assault.”
twitter…
Jack was right yesterday.
Avenatti’s client is two years older than Kavanaugh.
So, she is claiming that as an adult. she regularly attended and continued to attend, for years, High School parties where she knew underage girls were being raped. I don’t know how such a person would be able to live with themselves by letting this go on for years and not alerting authorities.
CG?
Our comments here are ALL the more reason that the FBI do a Q & A of those involved
If this was anyone else that would be the case
In not doing so the GOOer’s looking to hurt Kavanaugh and themselves
You don’t want the FBI to investigate anything for merit-worthy reasons. You want a waste of taxpayer dollars, simply as a delay tactic.
There is literally not much they can do to investigate that the Senate Judiciary Committee has not already done to investigate. They have the sworn statements of all people named by Ford who *all* say it never happened. Everyone named by Ramirez *all* say it didn’t happen, and even she has said she might not be sure who “do it.”
Now, we have this Avenatti allegation which seems dismissal-worthy at first blush. I am sure that in another week or two, somebody will claim they have knowledge that Kavanuagh killed Jon-Benet Ramsey and that needs to be “investigated.”
Again?
From what I have read?
The FBI was not aware of these accuations