No, Kavanaugh Shouldn't Withdraw. A Serious Look At The Allegations Against Him Shows Why.

No, Kavanaugh Shouldn't Withdraw. A Serious Look At The Allegations Against Him Shows Why.

ByBen Shapiro

@benshapiro

September 26, 2018

https://www.dailywire.com/news/36373/no-kavanaugh-shouldnt-withdraw-serious-look-ben-shapiro?utm_source=shapironewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=092718-news&utm_campaign=position1 

So, we now have four separate allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh with claims of various types of sexual abuse. These claims are all, thus far, unsubstantiated; nonetheless, Democrats have been disingenuously claiming that they spell doom for Kavanaugh, and that Kavanaugh should remove himself from convention. That’s absurd.

Let’s look at each allegation in turn.

1. Christine Blasey Ford. The first allegation came courtesy of Christine Blasey Ford, a professor from California, who alleges that when she was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17, she attended a party: date unknown, location unknown, how she got there unknown. At this party, she said, were either four boys and two girls (according to her polygraph note), or four boys and her (according to her note to Senator Dianne Feinstein). She says that at this party, Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge forced her into a room and turned up the music, and that Kavanaugh forced her onto a bed, where he attempted to take off her clothes and then placed his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. No other witness has verified her account. The first time she told anyone is when she told her husband that she was abused in high school – in 2002. The first time she mentioned Kavanaugh’s name was 2012, to her psychiatrist. There is no corroborative evidence of any sort to back her allegation. Both she and Democrats have been remarkably unforthcoming in turning over materials (she won’t turn over her medical records or therapist notes) or facilitating her testimony at a hearing. She has hired Democratic hacks as her lawyers. Kavanaugh fully denies the charges.

2. Deborah Martinez. The New Yorker reported Martinez’s allegations on Sunday – but the allegations were full of holes. According to Martinez, Kavanaugh thrust his penis in her face at a frat party at which he was drinking. But The New Yorker piece is extraordinarily weak: according to the publication, she was hesitant to speak publicly because “her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident,” and she was “reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty.” Only after “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorneys” did she decide to come forward. No corroborating witnesses have come forward. According to The New Yorker, “The New Yorker has not confirmed with other eyewitnesses that Kavanaugh was present at the party. The magazine contacted several dozen classmates of Ramirez and Kavanaugh regarding the incident. Many did not respond to interview requests; others declined to comment, or said they did not attend or remember the party.” Kavanaugh, again, fully denies the charges, stating, “This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name—and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building—against these last-minute allegations.”

3. Julie Swetnick. Stormy Daniels’ lawyer and 2020 Democratic candidate Michael Avenatti brought forward Swetnick on Wednesday. According to her sworn declaration, she saw Kavanaugh get drunk in high school and then grope girls against their will, as well as spiking punch with qualuudes and alcohol, and participating in a “gang rape” line at multiple parties. Swetnick says that she went to approximately 10 parties at which such activities took place – without saying anything, and returning to multiple parties, apparently. She says she was victim of such a gang rape, but is unclear as to whether Kavanaugh participated (it seems he didn’t, but she says he was present at such parties). Avenatti refuses to answer simple questions on her behalf, and has not made her available to testify. She says there are other witnesses – none have come forward. Swetnick graduated high school three years before Kavanaugh, as well – yet she was still supposedly attending high school parties as an adult. This is the wildest allegation of the bunch, and should be the most easily provable – and yet no proof has been offered whatsoever. The New York Times kindly put it this way: “None of Ms. Swetnick’s claims could be independently corroborated by The New York Times, and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, declined to make her available for an interview.” Some sixty women who went to high school at the same time as Kavanaugh said they have never heard of Swetnick. Kavanaugh stated, “That’s totally false and outrageous. I’ve never done any such thing, known about any such thing.”

4. Anonymous. Late on Wednesday afternoon, NBC News reported that the Senate Judiciary Committee was inquiring about another allegation of misconduct. They report, an anonymous woman says her daughter’s friend was physically assaulted by Kavanaugh in the Washington, D.C. area in 1998 while he was drunk. She states, “When they left the bar (under the influence of alcohol) they were all shocked when Brett Kavanaugh, shoved her friend up against the wall very aggressively and sexually. There were at least four witnesses including my daughter.” The daughter has not come forward; neither has the mother; neither has the friend. The media ran with the story anyway.

Now, maybe Kavanaugh did some of this or all of it. But we can't destroy his life based on uncorroborated allegations without any verifiable details. In sum, we have four incidents – all allegedly in public areas, without a single corroborating witness on the record. No names. No dates. Nothing. No wonder Democrats want Kavanaugh to simply step down. The last thing they want is Republicans questioning these allegations with any level of seriousness.