Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to answer questions regarding allegations of sexual misconduct. Also scheduled to testify before the Committee is accuser Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who claims Kavanaugh attacked her in the early 1980s when they were teens. The two will be questioned by Arizona sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell. Watch the hearing live in the player above beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Kavanaugh previously spent four days in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, but Senators decided to restart the hearing in light of Ford’s allegations. She alleges that the two of them were at a party, and that Kavanaugh forced himself on her, held her down, groped her, and tried to remove her clothing, while another man–Mark Judge— watched. Kavanaugh was allegedly heavily inebriated at the time. Judge then allegedly jumped on the two of them, and Ford claims she managed to escape at that time before anything else happened.
Many of those who know Kavanaugh stated that this story was inconsistent with what they knew of his character, but in recent days there have been reports of additional allegations. Deborah Ramirez claimed in a New Yorker report that in their first year of college at Yale, Kavanaugh exposed himself in front of her face, and when she pushed him away she unwillingly touched his penis. Ramirez admitted that she was drunk at the time and her memories of the incident were incomplete, but others told the New Yorker that they remembered hearing about the alleged incident at the time. While other students were said to have been present when it happened, so far no one has confirmed witnessing it.
Julie Swetnick also made allegations against Kavanaugh, claiming in a statement released by attorney Michael Avenatti that Kavanaugh and Judge were known to attend wild parties in the early 1980s, and that Kavanaugh allegedly would spike the punch to try to get girls drunk. Swetnick claimed that this was part of a plot to lure girls into side rooms where they would be gang raped. She claimed she herself was a victim of this, but did not specifically say that Kavanaugh raped her or anyone else.
It was also reported on Wednesday that a man contacted Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) earlier in the week to report that a “close acquaintance” of his was raped on a boat in Newport, Rhode Island in 1985 by two men named Brett and Mark. The unidentified man said that he and another individual confronted the alleged assailants and a physical altercation ensued.
A fifth allegation was also made, claiming that Kavanaugh attacked a woman in 1998, when Kavanaugh was working for Independent Counsel Ken Starr‘s investigation of President Bill Clinton. This allegation was made by an anonymous person who claimed in a letter that his daughter and her friend witnessed Kavanaugh shove another friend of theirs, whom Kavanaugh was dating. “They were all shocked when Brett Kavanaugh shoved her friend up against the wall very aggressively and sexually,” the letter said. The letter, which has since been read to Kavanaugh, claimed that the alleged victim spoke the letter writer’s daughter on September 21, and everyone involved in making the allegation decided to remain anonymous.
While Ford is the only accuser scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at Thursday’s hearing, Kavanaugh is expected to face questions regarding the other allegations. So far, he has adamantly denied every one.
[Image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
