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| Kamala Harris |
The transcript, which is embedded at the end of this post, is from an interview SJC staff members conducted with Kavanaugh on Sept. 26. Kavanaugh apparently had an unnamed attorney present on his end of the line during the interview.
Questions about the allegations of Julie Swetnick begin the interview. On page 10 of the transcript, a staff member pivots to an anonymous letter, where a woman says Kavanaugh and an unnamed friend gave her a ride home from a party -- with her in the passenger seat, Kavanaugh driving, and the friend in the back seat.
Kavanaugh interrupts the interview to state that he does not believe he has seen the letter. A staff member says the 2 1/2-page, handwritten letter was received at the office of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), a member of the SJC, who forwarded it to the chairman and ranking member for "due diligence." A staff member reads the letter into the record during the interview:
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
When Kavanaugh is asked for a response to the letter, he replies:
Nothing -- the whole thing is ridiculous. Nothing ever -- anything like that, nothing. I mean, that's -- the whole thing is just a crock, farce, wrong, didn't happen, not anything close.
As this post is written, about 9 p.m. CDT on 10/1/18, The Daily Wire (TDW) appears to be one of only two news sites to publish a story about the transcript. The other is the Palmer Report, which provides a straightforward account.
The Daily Wire is a conservative news and opinion site, founded in 2015 by Ben Shapiro, and its treatment of the Kavanaugh-transcript hardly is a model of journalistic fairness. From the TDW report, by Amanda Prestigiacomo:
On Sunday evening, the Senate Judiciary Committee released the transcript of a telephone interview with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh given by Senate Democrats on Wednesday, the night before the hearing. The interview included questions regarding a highly dubious, nonspecific, anonymous accusation of rape received by the office of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA). . . .
By bringing up the totally baseless and ambiguous accusation, the Democrats ensured that it would be on record to add to the cloud over the judge.
Andrew Kreig published a link to the transcript yesterday at The Justice-Integrity Project, plus a link to the Palmer Report article, and that is where we found it.
Where is this story headed? That's hard to say. Is the letter legitimate? Is the woman's story for real? Will the FBI look into it? Will the woman come forward?
This much seems clear: If the answer to the above questions is yes, Brett Kavanaugh might be in more trouble than anyone ever imagined.
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