Leahy says Kavanaugh was "not truthful" about democratic documents

Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) Said Friday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was not "truthful" when he denied knowing that he had received documents that Leahy had stolen from him and the other Democrats.

Leahy said the e-mails leaked at Kavanaugh's appointment hearing this week reinforce his argument that Kavanaugh knew, or should have known, that he had received documents taken by Republican staff on a computer shared with Democrats. .

"Many e-mails were sent to him that made it clear that it was stolen information, including a preliminary letter from me," Leahy said in an interview.

White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement that Leahy's statement shows how desperate he is to stain Justice Kavanaugh's stellar reputation. "

The allegation is one of several Democrats' statements that Kavanaugh was not completely comfortable with his confirmation hearings, both for the federal judiciary several years ago and during Supreme Court this week.

Although Kavanaugh this week referred to the decision legalizing abortion at the national level as an established precedent, recently published e-mails show that in 2003, as a White House lawyer, he advised against classifying the decision as "established law". confirmation hearing involving a controversial judge, he helped the shepherd through the appointment process.

Leahy's accusation comes from an infamous episode between 2001 and 2003, when a Republican Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer, Manuel Miranda, learned that the Democrats on the panel had placed documents on a shared computer server with Republicans. Miranda said in an interview that he was reading them to learn more about the party's strategy regarding judicial appointments to the committee.

At the time, Kavanaugh was an Associate Attorney at the White House and was responsible for helping to review judicial candidates who would appear before the Judiciary Committee.

Miranda, now a lawyer in Maryland, said that he was working "closely" with Kavanaugh on appointments and that he may be sharing information from democratic files. But he said he had never let Kavanaugh know he had seen documents taken by the Democrats.

"I never told him I got that from the Democrats. There has never been anything like it, "Miranda said. "I can tell you a fact that Brett did not know because nobody knew it," except for a few other staff members.

A congressional report accused Miranda and another staff member of viewing the documents. Miranda stated that he had never been charged and that he had never considered his action as "hacking", as Leahy has described.

This week's audition was Leahy's last effort to suggest that Kavanaugh knew he had received incorrect information from the Democrats. He questioned Kavanaugh about this at the confirmation hearings in 2004, when Kavanaugh's appointment to the Federal Court of Appeal was blocked, and in 2006, when Kavanaugh was confirmed. During both hearings, Kavanaugh stated that he had only been informed of Miranda's action through reports, and that Leahy did not have access to Kavanaugh's emails.

That changed in this week's hearings, when the committee released a number of undisclosed e-mails that Leahy said had raised new questions about Kavanaugh's knowledge that the documents had been mishandled.

In an e-mail of July 28, 2002, Miranda wrote to Kavanaugh that Leahy's staff had distributed a confidential letter to the Democratic staff members and described the contents of the letter.

An e-mail written by Miranda on March 18, 2003 and copied to Kavanaugh, was about "for use and not for distribution". Miranda wrote that "Dem's staff members say they have confidential information." make. Leahy said the points came from a draft letter written by her office. "We have every reason to believe that this has been taken," said Leahy.

Separately, an e-mail addressed to Kavanaugh by Barbara Ledeen, who was then a Republican leader, was about "spying." she had learned the Liberal groups' spending plans on judicial appointments. "It's important to note that if we have a candidate, we have to open that person through the process. We can not win $ 20 million, "Ledeen wrote on June 5, 2003.

Kavanaugh conveyed the message to his boss, advisor Alberto Gonzales, and others, writing: "Interesting Ledeen email …"

Ledeen, who is now a Republican staff member of the committee, did not respond to a request for comment.

Leahy quoted the "spying" e-mail at the hearing, asking Kavanaugh: "None of this has triggered a red flag with you?

"That was not the case, senator," said Kavanaugh. "People have friends on the other side with whom they talk – at least that was my experience at the time; maybe it has changed.