Two Classmates Who Backed Brett Kavanaugh And Disputed Sexual Assault Accuser Retract Their Statements
Two former classmates of Brett Kavanaugh have withdrawn their names from a statement of support for the Supreme Court Justice nominee. The New Yorker reported that Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing contacted them following the publication of a story about sexual assault allegations brought against Kavanaugh by Deborah Ramirez and said that they “did not wish to dispute Ramirez’s claims.” Garry said that she could not dispute the allegations because she was not present at the party where Ramirez claims the assault took place. Ewing said that he also was not present so could not dispute the charges but that the behavior described by Ramirez would be out of character for Kavanaugh.
The New Yorker published their story about Deborah Ramirez on Sunday. She is the third woman to come forward with charges of sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh. They reported that at least four Democratic senators and some senior Republican staffers were aware of the allegations. At least two of the Democratic senators had begun an investigation while Republicans pushed for the vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation to happen sooner rather than later.
Fifty-three-year-old Ramirez says the assault took place at Yale and says that she had been drinking when it took place. She says that’s one reason she hesitated to come forward. The incident took place at a party where she, Kavanaugh, and many others were drunk. Because she was intoxicated, Ramirez said that there are gaps in her memory of that night. She initially was fuzzy enough on what took place that night that she didn’t want to “characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty.” Six days later, after examining the things she does remember and speaking with her attorney, Ramirez came forward with the things she says she clearly remembers from that night.
Brett Kavanaugh vows on Fox News: I'm "not going anywhere" https://t.co/nchduxpTdm pic.twitter.com/qHdTOvTQm3
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The party took place in Lawrence Hall, a dormitory on the school’s campus. Ramirez said she was invited to the party by a friend who was on Yale’s women’s soccer team. She participated in a drinking game in which people would pick someone who had to take a drink. After being chosen several times, she was drunk and found herself laying on the floor slurring her words and foggy-headed while two male students looked on. A third one exposed his genitals to her, and she replied that she thought it was fake. The students laughed at her and encouraged her to “kiss it.” She responded by pushing the person away, accidentally touching their privates in the process.
Ramirez said that she clearly remembers what happened next. She said she’s sure she saw Brett Kavanaugh pulling his pants up at that point as he laughed at her after that and hearing someone yell down the dorm hallway that “Brett Kavanaugh” had just put his genitals in her face. She said, “It was his full name. I don’t think it was just ‘Brett.'”
Garry and Ewing are just two of several classmates contacted by The New Yorker. Most refused to comment or, like Garry and Ewing, said they were not present at the party. One unidentified classmate said that he didn’t attend the party but that he is “one-hundred-percent-sure” he was told by someone a couple of days after the party that Kavanaugh had done exactly what Deborah Ramirez claims he did. The New Yorker reported that this person also independently recounted details of the incident that were identical to those provided by Ramirez. Four others dispute the charges, saying they were close to Kavanaugh at the time and would have known if it happened. Others who were close to Ramirez at Yale said they had never heard anything about the incident either.
