It was just 10 days ago that the Washington Post reported on a sexual-assault allegation from Christine Blasey Ford, who said Brett Kavanaugh “pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit” at a party in the early 1980s.
It was three days ago when Deborah Ramirez, a classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale, told the New Yorker about an alleged incident in which Kavanaugh “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.”
Soon after, Michael Avenatti, perhaps best known for his legal work on behalf of Stormy Daniels, told Rachel on the air that another woman would soon come forward with a new accusation related to the pending Supreme Court nominee. This morning, as NBC News reported, we learned the details of Julie Swetnick’s story.
A third woman came forward Wednesday morning to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. In this case, the woman accused him of engaging in repeated lewd behavior with women at parties in the early 1980s, and of putting drugs or alcohol in punch to cause women to become inebriated so they could be “gang raped” by a group of male partygoers.
The woman, Julie Swetnick, said that she was the victim of one of these gang rapes in approximately 1982. She did not allege that Kavanaugh participated in the rape, but said he and his friend Mark Judge were present when it occurred, adding that she was incapacitated by a drug placed in her drink without her consent and was unable to fight off her attackers.
She also said she saw Kavanaugh and Judge lined up at other parties “waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room.”
NBC News, which has not independently verified the accuracy of the woman’s claim, also posted the sworn declaration from Swetnick online.
Swetnick, like Ford and Ramirez, is prepared to testify under oath, and through her attorney, she’s welcomed FBI scrutiny. Kavanaugh said in a written statement, “This is ridiculous and from the twilight zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.” An attorney for Mark Judge told NBC News that “Mr. Judge vehemently denies Ms. Swetnick’s allegations.” The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed this morning that it has received the declaration, but it’s not clear what, if anything, senators intend to do with the accusation. That said, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) responded to this morning’s developments in a statement. “Republicans need to immediately suspend the proceedings related to Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, and the president must order the FBI to reopen the background check investigation,” the Democratic leader said. “There are now multiple, corroborated allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, made under the penalty of perjury, all of which deserve a thorough investigation.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
