According to Reason , Julie Swetnick still has prominent people and organizations in her corner, including her lawyer Michael Avenatti, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL.
There are many critics of both Swetnick and her supporters following her accusations against Kavanaugh. She “was confused about the timing of Kavanaugh’s nomination, changed her mind about whether she specifically say [him] spiking girls’ drinks, borrowed key phrases from the more plausible allegation made by Christine Blasey Ford, and offered witnesses who were deceased, unavailable, or had no idea what she was talking about.”
Additionally, both her and her lawyer are under an impending investigation by the Justice Department for “potentially making false statements.”
Critics also believe that the hashtag, #believesurvivors, is being taken too far and that there must be a line drawn between giving survivors a platform and believing them, while also not giving credit to potential falsehoods.
We still believe Julie Swetnick. #BelieveSurvivors
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) October 25, 2018
According to NBC , another potential reason behind the holes in Swetnick’s allegations are the “apparent inconsistencies” from a second accuser. At first, this accuser, who is unidentified, stated that she witnessed Kavanaugh engaging in sexual misconduct in high school, but then admitted that she had actually never seen him “act inappropriately towards girls,” and that she did not know Swetnick in high school.
However, Avenatti has maintained that regardless of holes and inconsistencies in both women’s stories, the official statement or declaration that he released about the allegations is true.
The NBC interview that highlighted these inconsistencies was used by Senator Chuck Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee when he “referred attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation.” This mention of NBC apparently angered Avenatti who criticized the news corporation following Senator Grassley’s referral.
This pledge of support from Planned Parenthood and NARAL comes at a time of deep divisions in the country on the matter of sexual assault/misconduct allegations. While Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony was acknowledged as credible and many people believed her, Brett Kavanaugh was still confirmed for the United States Supreme Court. Additionally, in lieu of the news of a Google payoff following sexual misconduct allegations, it will be interesting and perhaps troublesome to explore the line between what authorities and the public believe, what they do not, and what might be done no matter which side of the line they land on.
