Attorney Michael Avenatti raised eyebrows this week when he announced he was representing a woman who had additional allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Some suggested he was simply seeking publicity and demanded he put up or shut up, and Avenatti once again shows that he isn’t playing around.
He has released a legal declaration from his client, Julie Swetnick, who alleges that she witnessed aggressive drunken behavior toward women by Brett Kavanaugh and his best friend, Mark Judge, and that she was raped at one of their house parties. Avenatti and Swetnick are demanding a full FBI investigation before any confirmation vote. Here are some of the details contained in the legal declaration, which can be read in full below:
8. I observed Brett Kavanaugh drink excessively at many of these house parties and engage in abusive and physically aggressive behavior toward girls, including pressing girls against him without their consent, “grinding” against girls, and attempting to remove or shift girls’ clothing to expose private body parts. I likewise observed him to be verbally abusive toward girls by making crude sexual comments to them that were designed to demean, humiliate and embarrass them. I often witnessed Brett Kavanaugh speak in a demeaning manner about girls in general and specific girls by name. I also witnessed Brett Kavanaugh behave as a “mean drunk” on many occasions at these parties.
Swetnick says Kavanaugh and Mark Judge spiked the punch at parties with grain alcohol and/or drugs for the purpose of targeting women, making them lose their inhibitions. Trigger warning for what comes next:
12. I also witnessed efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be “gang raped” in a side room or a bedroom by a “train” of numerous boys. I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their “turn” with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.
13. In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of these “gang” or “train” where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present. Shortly after the incident, I shared what had transpired with at least two other people. During the incident, I was incapacitated without my consent and unable to fight the boys off raping me. I believe I was drugged using Quaaludes or something similar placed in what I was drinking.
Swetnick doesn’t explicitly say that Kavanaugh was one of the boys who raped her, but it seems clear that her account and those of others firmly confirm that Kavanaugh has been repeatedly untruthful to the Senate Judiciary Committee and that he does not have the character to sit on the Supreme Court.
This is Julie Swetnick. I believe Julie Swetnick. And Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. And Deborah Ramirez.
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2018 · 3:52:45 PM +00:00 · Jen HaydenSenate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says committee lawyers are now reviewing the Julie Swetnick declaration.
xSenate Judiciary Cmte GOPers: This morning Michael Avenatti provided a declaration to the Judiciary Committee. Committee lawyers are in the process of reviewing it now.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 26, 2018
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