We Should Have Listened to Kavanaugh’s Latina Accuser to Begin With

A year ago, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford said under oath that Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while they attended Yale University. Another student at Yale, Deborah Ramirez, also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. After the FBI’s “supplemental investigation” – meaning restricted and limited investigation — Kavanaugh was confirmed as a judge on the Supreme Court. Now after a 10-month investigation, two New York Times reporters have released a book that discloses details and information that confirms what many speculated to be true.

Two @nytimes reporters, @rpogrebin and @katekelly, spent months independently reporting out Deborah Ramirez’s allegation against Brett Kavanaugh and found it credible—and documented another serious claim of misconduct with an eyewitness: https://t.co/XquETEtHI1

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) September 15, 2019

In an excerpt from the book, published in the Times, the account that Ramirez told the FBI, which was that Kavanaugh had exposed his penis to her at a party “prompting her to swat it away and inadvertently touch it” was confirmed by witnesses. Last year, Kavanaugh said that if he had done what Ramirez alleged, then it would be the “the talk of campus” and the investigation by two reporters show that it was.

Reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly also disclosed another incident in which Kavanaugh exposed himself at a separate event.

“A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student,” the reporters wrote.

.@NYTimes did not contacted Sen. Grassley’s office for this story. If they had, we would've reminded them of a few key public facts they omitted:

1. @senjudiciary staff proactively contacted Ms. Ramirez' lawyers soon after the New Yorker story broke.https://t.co/c8dHQZf4T2

— Sen. Grassley Press (@GrassleyPress) September 15, 2019

While any sort of sexual misconduct is terrible, what is most disturbing about this investigation conducted by journalists, is that it should have been handled thoroughly by the FBI last year. However, this report shows that the FBI both could not do more because they were restricted by the White House, and also that the FBI did not follow up on tips and information that was given to them.

Now that details have been confirmed by multiple sources, Democrats are calling for the impeachment of Kavanaugh. Several presidential candidates including Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, and Julián Castro have called for Judge Kavanaugh to resign or be impeached. Castro tweeted “Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation is a shame to the Supreme Court. This latest allegation of assault must be investigated,” and added, “It’s more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath. He should be impeached. And Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter.”

Brett Kavanaugh, Senate Republicans, and the Trump administration knew about corroborating witnesses and additional allegations of his sexual abuse and kept them quiet.

As I said yesterday, it’s clear he lied under oath and he must be impeached. pic.twitter.com/iqXJqVBtws

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) September 15, 2019

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have come to Judge Kavanaugh’s defense. Sen. Ted Cruz said in an ABC interview: “I bet you the next Democratic debate they’ll all be saying impeach Kavanaugh, impeach Trump. There’s nobody they don’t want to impeach…they just have to let the anger go and recognize that the Democratic process actually moves on.”

Regardless of whether politicians move on from this topic or not, one thing they should know is they cannot silence victims of sexual assault.