Democratic Candidates Call For Kavanaugh’s Impeachment After New NYT Report
“Yesterday, we learned of another accusation against Brett Kavanaugh—one we didn’t find out about before he was confirmed because the Senate forced the F.B.I. to rush its investigation to save his nomination. We know he lied under oath. He should be impeached.”
Multiple 2020 presidential candidates have called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after a new New York Times report revealed new allegations of sexual misconduct and details about last year’s fast-tracked FBI investigation that neglected to question over two dozen witnesses involved in the matter.
The report comes from two reporters, Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, who have spent the last 10 months investigating Kavanaugh’s sexual assault allegations from his confirmation hearing last year. The most damaging revelations involve an allegation from Kavanaugh’s Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez, who claimed Kavanaugh “pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her” at a dorm party their freshmen year.
While the Senate decided Ramirez’ story lacked sufficient corroboration at the time, the report shows at least seven people “heard about the Yale incident long before Mr. Kavanaugh was a federal judge,” and that Ramirez’ legal team gave the FBI a list of “at least 25 individuals who may have had corroborating evidence” of her story, yet the bureau “interviewed none of them.”
“The process was a sham,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar told ABC on Sunday of the fast-tracked FBI investigation.
The bureau also neglected to interview Max Stier, a classmate of Ramirez and Kavanaugh who runs a DC nonprofit, who notified the FBI and the senate of a similar incident at “a different drunken dorm party” at the time. However, on Sunday the Times “appended a note to the essay clarifying that the female student referenced by Stier declined to be interviewed, and her friends say she does not recall the incident,” according to Politico, prompting Trump to lash out on Twitter Monday:
“‘The New York Times walks back report on Kavanaugh assault claim.’ @foxandfriends,” Trump tweeted. “The one who is actually being assaulted is Justice Kavanaugh – Assaulted by lies and Fake News! This is all about the LameStream Media working with their partner, the Dems.”
Multiple 2020 Democratic presidential candidates reacted to the news of the insufficient FBI investigation and unexamined corroborations to Ramirez’ story as reason for Kavanaugh’s impeachment.
“These newest revelations are disturbing,” Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts wrote on Twitter about The Times essay. “Like the man who appointed him, Kavanaugh should be impeached.”
“He was put on the Court through a sham process and his place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice,” wrote Sen. Kamala Harris.
Critics argue Kavanaugh has already undermined his credibility by his emphatic denial of ever participating in binge drinking or inappropriate sexual behavior, since several of his classmates have offered conflicting accounts. Chad Ludington, one of Kavanaugh’s former classmates, said he became “belligerent and aggressive” when drunk.
“There’s no problem with drinking beer in college. The problem is lying about it,” Liz Swisher, one of Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates, told CNN. Critics point to multiple other contradictions about his yearbook and previous cases during his hearing as proof he lied under oath.
“Yesterday, we learned of another accusation against Brett Kavanaugh—one we didn’t find out about before he was confirmed because the Senate forced the F.B.I. to rush its investigation to save his nomination. We know he lied under oath. He should be impeached,” tweeted Beto O’Rourke.
President Trump responded to the report by saying that Kavanaugh should “start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue.”
“He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY,” Trump wrote. “Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning Liberal!”
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Attorney General Barr is giving the Justice Department’s Award for Distinguished Service to lawyers who supported Kavanaugh’s hearing, an award legal analyst Elie Honig said “typically goes to prosecutors who make the biggest cases against terrorists, corrupt politicians, drug cartels, organized crime enterprises, etc.”