September 24, 2018
IT'S LIKE A MASSIVE PSA FOR YOUNG PEOPLE:
Christine Blasey Ford Reaches Deal to Testify at Kavanaugh Hearing (Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Nicholas Fandos, Sept. 23, 2018, NY Times)
In a preview of his defense, Judge Kavanaugh planned on Sunday to hand over to the Judiciary Committee calendars from the summer of 1982 that do not contain evidence of a party similar to the one described by Dr. Blasey. His team plans to argue that the calendar pages represent a piece of evidence that fails to corroborate Dr. Blasey's account, according to a person familiar with the defense.But the calendar pages from June, July and August of that year, which were reviewed by The New York Times, also in no way disprove her accusation. Along with a list of statements from other potential witnesses insisting they do not remember the episode, the pages only reinforced on Sunday that Judge Kavanaugh's fate will rest in the hands of individual senators who must decide whose account they believe.Senators looking to confirm or refute the allegations will face a nearly impossible task. Complicating matters, Dr. Blasey has said she does not recall the specific date or location of the house where the alleged incident occurred, though she believes it was during the summer of 1982.Judge Kavanaugh's prospects were further clouded on Sunday when The New Yorker reported on a new allegation of sexual impropriety: A woman who went to Yale with Judge Kavanaugh said that, during a drunken dormitory party their freshman year, he exposed himself to her, thrust his penis into her face and caused her to touch it without her consent.In a statement, Judge Kavanaugh denied the allegation from the woman, Deborah Ramirez, and called it "a smear, plain and simple." The New Yorker did not confirm with other eyewitnesses that Judge Kavanaugh was at the party.The Times had interviewed several dozen people over the past week in an attempt to corroborate her story, and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ms. Ramirez herself contacted former Yale classmates asking if they recalled the incident and told some of them that she could not be certain Mr. Kavanaugh was the one who exposed himself.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 24, 2018 4:01 AM
