The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), on Wednesday compared the “pattern” of allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to those faced by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
“These allegations should be thoroughly investigated, and they have credibility,” Nadler told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton. His comments follow a third woman coming forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
“The specific reason they have credibility is that they fit the pattern, and the pattern is that when you find someone like a Harvey Weinstein or someone else who’s very respected and powerful … and is suddenly accused of sexually exploiting women, first one person comes forward, and then another, and then the dam breaks, and you find a number of women coming forward,” he continued.
“That seems to be what’s happening with Judge Kavanaugh. He’s a very powerful judge, who has been nominated to the highest court in the land. Women are going to be very reluctant to upset their own lives by making these accusations and revealing what happened to them,” he said. “But once one comes forward, then a second, and now a third, that fits the pattern of truthful allegations against powerful men.”
Nadler will likely chair the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats take back the majority in the House in November.
His comments come after attorney Michael Avenatti on Wednesday released the identity of his client who is accusing Kavanaugh of being present for a “gang rape” where she was a victim.
A spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced on Wednesday that the committee was looking into the allegations.
The latest claim against Kavanaugh is the third sexual misconduct allegation against the Supreme Court nominee.
Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of holding her down, groping her and attempting to remove her clothes during a high school party in 1982, while Deborah Ramirez has claimed he exposed himself without her consent during a gathering at Yale University a few years later.
Kavanaugh has denied all of the allegations.
He hit back at the latest allegations on Wednesday, calling them “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone” in a statement sent out by the White House.
“I don’t know who this is and this never happened,” Kavanaugh said.
— Julia Manchester
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.