Senate questioned Kavanaugh this week about another allegation

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday questioned Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about another assault allegation. 

Republican Senate investigators asked Kavanaugh about an anonymous complaint alleging the Supreme Court nominee physically assaulted a woman in 1998, according to a transcript from that phone call. 

{mosads}The complaint was originally sent to Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). Gardner’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

An investigator during the phone call read parts of the complaint to Kavanaugh, who denied the allegation. 

“I will remain anonymous, but I feel obligated to inform you of this 1998 incident involving Brett Kavanaugh,” the complaint says, according to the transcript.

The complaint’s author, who is anonymous, wrote that the incident involved her daughter and several other people.

“[My daughter’s] friend was dating him, and they left the bar under the influence of alcohol,” the complaint reads. “They were all shocked when Brett Kavanaugh shoved her friend up against the wall very aggressively and sexually.”

“There were at least four witnesses, including my daughter,” it continues. “Her friend, still traumatized, called my daughter yesterday, September 21, 2018, wondering what to do about it. They decided to remain anonymous.”

The letter’s author did not provide any names.

Kavanaugh during the phone call said he had read the letter and denied the account.

“Did the events described in the letter occur?” one investigator asked.

“No, and we’re dealing with an anonymous letter about an anonymous person and an anonymous
friend,” Kavanaugh said. “It’s ridiculous. Total twilight zone. And no, I’ve never done anything like that.” 

Kavanaugh has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by three women, two of whom allege he acted while under the influence of alcohol. He has denied all of the allegations. 

He is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday alongside the first woman who accused him of sexual assault, Christine Blasey Ford. 

Senators say they’ve had multiple alleged incidents, ranging in credibility, brought to their staffs’ attention since Ford went public with her allegation earlier this month. 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), recalling how his staff found out about an allegation from a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, told reporters that “people call with rumors.” 

“Some of these are completely incredible and the staff dismisses it,” he said. “I asked the same thing [about the Ramirez allegation], ‘Why didn’t you tell me this?’ They said, ‘Do you know how many calls we get?’ ” 

“You’ve got to be careful because it is it not above someone to plant some stupid idea, then have us say it, and have it blow up in our face,” Durbin continued. 

GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters Wednesday that his committee looks into any allegation about Kavanaugh brought to their attention as long as they can find the name of the accuser or their lawyer.  

“All I can tell you is we’re handling it exactly like we’ve handled every newspaper report or everybody contacting our office, or anonymous even. If we can get the name and or the lawyer we’ve followed up with the usual staff interrogation,” Grassley said when asked about the latest allegation from a woman represented by lawyer Michael Avenatti.

Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Grassley, said Wednesday that the committee “regularly receives anonymous letters.”

“We have no reason to assign the letter credibility, and even if we did, we’d have no way to investigate the allegation as it was made anonymously and cannot be corroborated,” he said.

Foy added that committee staff asked Kavanaugh about the letter “to make sure no stone was left unturned.”

— Updated 8:08 p.m.