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New Accuser Swetnick Says Brett Kavanaugh Lined Up for ‘Gang Rapes’

Lawyer Michael Avenatti produces sworn affidavit of woman on eve of high-stakes Judiciary hearing

The political protest group UltraViolet projected anti-Brett Kavanaugh messages on the United States Court of Appeals Tuesday Sept. 25, 2018. (Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call) 
The political protest group UltraViolet projected anti-Brett Kavanaugh messages on the United States Court of Appeals Tuesday Sept. 25, 2018. (Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call) 

A third woman came forward Wednesday with allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, saying she would testify to his behavior at high school parties where girls were gang raped.

The declaration sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee from Julie Swetnick is a last-minute bombshell on the eve of a hearing that was to feature testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when he was 17 years old.

The declaration was posted on Twitter by her attorney, Michael Avenatti. In it, Swetnick describes parties in 1981 to 1983 where she saw Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, drink excessively, fondle and grab girls without their consent, and be aggressive with girls and not take “no” for an answer.

Senate Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy confirmed that the staff received the declaration. “Committee lawyers are in the process of reviewing it now,” Foy said.

 

“We’re already looking at it,” Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said of the affidavit.

 

“We are proceeding the same way that we’ve been proceeding since the Washington Post story. Every time that there’s been accusations made we’ve tried to follow up where we could get a contact. So obviously this morning we had this contact and out investigators were on it immediately and I can’t say anything beyond that,”  he added.

 

[Kavanaugh Undeterred by Sexual Assault Allegations]

Swetnick also says Kavanaugh, Judge and others would “spike” the drinks at parties with drugs or alcohol to cause girls to lose their inhibitions “so they could then be ‘gang raped’ in a side room or 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,” Swetnick said in the declaration. “These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.”

Swetnick also said she was a victim of one of these gang rapes in 1982 “where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present,” but does not indicate whether they were involved in the rape. She says she told two people about the incident shortly afterward.

[Rohrabacher Ridicules Kavanaugh Accusation]

“During the incident, I was incapacitated without my consent and unable to fight off the boys raping me,” Swetnick states. “I believe I was drugged using Quaaludes or something similar placed in what I was drinking.”

Kavanaugh reacted in a similar fashion to how he reacted to the first two accusers: categorically denying the events happened. 

“This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened,” Kavanaugh said in a statement about the most recent accusations.

Swetnick, who lives in Washington, said she went to Gaithersburg High School in Maryland and worked in the government. She said she has active public trust clearances to work with the Treasury Department, the U.S. Mint and the Internal Revenue Service.

She said she previously worked at the Defense Department, Homeland Security Department and State Department, and previously held secret or public trust clearances for that work.

For his part, President Donald Trump is standing by his man. 

After being briefed on the news, Trump tweeted a response to the latest allegation: “Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships – a total low-life!”

Watch: Flake Pleads With Senate: Don’t Make Up Minds Before Thursday’s Kavanaugh, Ford Hearing

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John T. Bennett, Patrick Kelley and Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report. 

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