There’s no way to break into this story gracefully, so we’ll skip the usual prose at the beginning of my articles and just cut to the chase: There was a sixth accuser against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and it is at this point that I must include a trigger warning for any individuals who have been victims of sexual assault.
If you are sensitive to this topic, please be warned that I am including a description of an attack by Kavanaugh and a friend that is graphic in nature.
During an interview between the special counsel for the Senate Judiciary — which in this case has nothing to do with Robert Mueller but rather refers only to lawyers hired specifically to deal with the Kavanaugh situation on behalf of the Committee — and the nominee, who was present by telephone conference call along with his own lawyer, a sixth accusation against the Judge was brought up, having been sent to the office of Senator Kamala Harris in San Diego.
Thus far, this accusation remains anonymous, although Republicans attempted to discredit it just before the midterms by pointing out that one woman who claimed to be this anonymous accuser — but was not — had retracted her statement. Republicans tried to claim that this accusation was retracted, but it was not — only the woman’s claim that she was the anonymous accuser known as “Jane Doe.”
After asking Kavanaugh to answer preliminary questions about the accusations leveled by an earlier accuser under oath, the lawyers for the Judiciary brought up the anonymous accusation and offered to read the entirety of the letter to the accused. He initially said on the call that he didn’t “need” to hear the whole thing in order to refute it, and implored the Judiciary to proceed with the questions. But when his lawyer realized the accusation was so new that they didn’t even yet have a copy of it, he asked them to read the letter.
The transcript is, to say the least, disturbing. A redacted version is available on the Senate Judiciary’s official government website. This is the part pertaining to the trigger warning:
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.”
After Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of taking part in a type of gathering which he denied he ever took part in — then proved he did take part in with his own calendar evidence — while naming people from memory that were also on the calendar Kavanaugh provided without ever having seen it or spoken to him, it was damning enough.
Then when Deborah Ramirez introduced new claims which were supported by the sworn statements of Elizabeth Rasor, the ex-girlfriend of Kavanaugh’s pal Mark Judge, it was enough to turn your stomach.
The statement by his basketball teammate to the Washington Post about Kavanaugh’s binge drinking and violent and aggressive behavior paints a picture of a kid who did anything he wanted, any time he wanted to do it.
This anonymous claim, however, is the tale of a privileged young man just like David Becker or John Enochs or Brock Turner — only worse. And what’s more, it sounds like it’s exactly what might have happened to Christine Blasey Ford if she hadn’t been wearing a one-piece bathing suit under her clothes or been able to escape to the bathroom.
Brett Kavanaugh hasn’t just gotten away with everything he’s ever done with no consequences. He has thrived. He has become part of the system that leads to MORE privileged young white men perpetrating the same acts.
Featured image via screen capture
