Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has referred an investigation to the Department of Justice and the FBI, saying that a woman made false allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh.
Grassley said in a letter on Friday that Judy Munro-Leighton should be investigated for making materially false statements and obstruction. The Iowa senator said that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) forwarded a letter from a “Jane Doe” residing in Oceanside, California on Sept. 25 to the Committee investigators looking into the various allegations of sexual misconduct and assault made against Kavanaugh.
The letter, which claimed that Kavanaugh and friend raped her repeatedly in the “backseat of car,” was investigated, Grassley said, despite “being from an anonymous accuser,” with “no return address,” “timeframe,” or “location” of the alleged assaults.
Remarkably, the woman identified as Munro-Leighton reached out to Senate Judiciary staff by email, identifying herself as “Jane Doe from Oceanside CA.” This was on Oct. 3, 2018, three days before Kavanaugh was sworn in. The email contained a typed-up version of the anonymously written letter, repeated that Jane Doe was raped by Kavanaugh, but was “deathly afraid of revealing any information about myself or my family.”
An investigation into Munro-Leighton followed and Grassley says they found she was a “left-wing activist” who is “decades older than Judge Kavanaugh” and lives in Kentucky. Committee investigators attempted to follow up on Oct. 29, but did not speak with Munro-Leighton on the phone until Thursday, Nov. 1.
It is alleged that Munro-Leighton denied being “Jane Doe.”
“No, no, no. I did that as a way to grab attention. I am not Jane Doe, but I did read Jane Doe’s letter. I read the transcript of the call to your Committee,” she allegedly admitted. “I saw it online. It was news.” Grassley claimed that the woman called this a “tactic” and a “ploy” to “get attention.”
As for the email she sent? “I was angry, and I sent it out,” she apparently said. Munro-Leighton allegedly admitted that she never met Kavanaugh, saying, “Oh Lord, no.”
The letter from Grassley to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray includes copies of the original written letter and the email exchange between Munro-Leighton and Committee staff.
This is what the typed up letter from Munro-Leighton’s email address said:
To all Republican Senators, 10/3/18
My name is Jane Doe, from Oceanside CA. I am sharing with you the story of the night that Brett Kavanaugh and his friend sexually assaulted and raped me in his car. Here is the letter that I sent to Sen. Kamala Harris on Sept. 19 with details of this vicious assault. The Senate Judiciary Comm had a phone interview on Sept. 26 with Kavanaugh to ask him about my letter.
I refuse to allow Donald J. Trump to use me or my story as an ugly chant at one of his Republican rallies. I know that Jane Doe will get no media attention, but I am deathly afraid of revealing any information about myself or my family.
I watched in horror as Trump vilified Dr. Blasey-Ford. I will not allow this abuse to be directed toward me.Dear, Senator Grassley, et al.
The current situation regarding the accusations made by Dr. Ford against Brett Kavanaugh have prompted me to write you today. I have moved on with my life since he forced himself on me as well. The times were so different, and I didn’t expect to be taken seriously, embarrass my family, be believed at all. I was at a party with a friend. I had been drinking. She left with another boy, leaving me to find my own way home. Kavanaugh and a friend offered me a ride home. I don’t know the other boy’s name. I was in his car to go home. His friend was behind me in the backseat. Kavanaugh kissed me forcefully.
I told him I only wanted a ride home. Kavanaugh continued to grope me over my clothes, forcing his kisses on me and putting his hand under my sweater. ‘No,’ I yelled at him. The boy in the backseat reached around, putting his hand over my mouth and holding my arm to keep me in the car. I screamed into his hand. Kavanaugh continued his forcing himself on me. He pulled up my sweater and bra exposing my breasts, and reached into my panties, inserting his fingers into my vagina. My screams were silenced by the boy in the backseat covering my mouth and groping me as well. Kavanaugh slapped me and told me to be quiet and forced me to perform oral sex on him. He climaxed in my mouth. They forced me to go into the backseat and took turns raping me several times each.
They dropped me off two blocks from my home. ‘No one will believe if you tell. Be a good girl,’ he told me. Watching what has happened to Anita Hill and Dr. Ford has me petrified to come forward in person or even provide my name. A group of white men, powerful senators who won’t believe me, will come after me. Like Dr. Ford, I’m a teacher, I have an education, a family, a child, a home. I have credibility. Just because something happens a long time ago, because a rape victim doesn’t want to personally come forward, does not mean something can’t be true.
Jane Doe, Oceanside, California.
[Image via Michael Reynolds-Pool and Getty Images]
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