Several Democratic presidential candidates known as for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Sunday after The New York Times revealed new details about allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to him, whereas Republican leaders condemned the reporting as irresponsible and defended him.
President Trump on Twitter accused information retailers of attempting to strain the justice into taking extra liberal positions and steered, with out elaborating, that the “Justice Department should come to his rescue.”
On Saturday, The Times revealed an essay in its Opinion part tailored from a forthcoming e-book “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation,” by two Times reporters, Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, who helped cowl his affirmation hearings.
The reporters wrote that they spent 10 months investigating the allegations of sexual misconduct and assault on the middle of the hearings, together with one by a former Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez. She recalled being at a dorm get together the place individuals had been consuming closely, and Mr. Kavanaugh thrust his penis in her face, prompting her to swat it away and inadvertently contact it.
While Senate investigators concluded on the time that Ms. Ramirez’s account lacked corroboration, the authors stated a minimum of seven individuals “heard about the Yale incident long before Mr. Kavanaugh was a federal judge,” together with Ms. Ramirez’s mom and two classmates who realized of it simply days after the get together.
The e-book additionally experiences that Ms. Ramirez’s legal professionals gave the F.B.I. a listing of a minimum of 25 individuals who might have had corroborating proof, however that the bureau interviewed none of them. The two brokers who interviewed Ms. Ramirez advised her they discovered her “credible,” the excerpt stated.
The authors additionally stated they uncovered a second, beforehand unreported incident involving comparable conduct by Mr. Kavanaugh at a distinct get together in his freshman yr.
The excerpt stated a classmate, Max Stier, who now runs a nonprofit group in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about what he had witnessed however that the bureau didn’t examine.
The excerpt cites two unnamed officers who’ve communicated with Mr. Stier, who has declined to debate the episode publicly. Justice Kavanaugh has declined to reply questions on it, in keeping with the excerpt.
At the middle of Judge Kavanaugh’s affirmation listening to was the testimony of sexual misconduct allegations by Christine Blasey Ford, a California college professor who had attended a Washington-area highschool close to his.
She testified that once they had been youngsters, he pinned her to a mattress, groped her and tried to take away her garments whereas overlaying her mouth. He has denied the allegations from each ladies.
Several of the Democrats in search of their get together’s presidential nomination weighed in on the brand new allegations.
“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.”
Kamala Harris, a Democratic senator from California and a member of the Senate committee that presided over his affirmation hearings, on Twitter echoed the decision for impeachment.
“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,” she wrote.
Former Vice President Joe Biden known as the revelations “profoundly troubling.” In a press release on Twitter, he known as for an investigation into “whether the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans pressured the F.B.I. to ignore evidence.”
Julián Castro, who was housing secretary below President Barack Obama, and Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, additionally known as for his impeachment.
ImageCreditT.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times
Mr. Trump, who nominated Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, defended him on Twitter on Sunday.
“He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY,” he wrote. “Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning Liberal!”
In one other tweet, the president steered that Justice Kavanaugh ought to “start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue.”
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CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
The Senate Republican majority chief, Mitch McConnell, stated on Twitter, that the “far left’s willingness to seize on completely uncorroborated and unsubstantiated allegations during last year’s confirmation process was a dark and embarrassing chapter for the Senate.”
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, wrote on Twitter that “The New York Times should be ashamed of this smear on Justice Kavanaugh.”
James Dao, deputy editorial web page editor for The Times, stated in a press release that the essay was “a well-reported and newsworthy account that sheds new light on a matter that provoked significant national debate.”
The Times was roundly criticized for a tweet — which was later deleted — made on its Opinion account on Saturday in regards to the essay that learn: “Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party may seem like harmless fun. But when Brett Kavanaugh did it to her, Deborah Ramirez says, it confirmed that she didn’t belong at Yale in the first place.”
Mr. Dao stated the tweet “was clearly offensive and never should have gone out and we sincerely apologize.”
Chris Cameron contributed reporting.
