Brett Kavanaugh at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Sept. 27, 2018.(Photo: Pool photo by Jim Bourg)

President Donald Trump, who vowed to focus the midterm election campaign on “caravans and Kavanaugh,” swung back to the Supreme Court issue on Twitter Saturday by blasting a bit player in Senate confirmation hearings who allegedly has admitted to making false statements about then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Sen. Chuck Grassley asked the federal authorities on Friday to investigate a woman by the name of Judy Munro-Leighton who he said had made false claims against the now-confirmed Supreme Court justice. 

Grassley said Munro-Leighton initially took responsibility for authoring an anonymous “Jane Doe’ letter that made allegations that Kavanaugh and a friend raped her. After she was tracked down and interviewed by Senate investigators, Grassley said, the woman purportedly recanted and said she had never met Kavanaugh and “just wanted to get attention.”

She says she was, in fact, not the “Jane Doe,” whose letter postmarked in California had become public with the release of documents by Grassley’s committee, according to Grassley.

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Munro-Leighton, from Kentucky, was not one of the primary accusers brought up during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court.

Grassley says the woman is a “left-wing activist” and told investigators her initial claim to being the author of the “Jane Doe” letter was “just a ploy,” he wrote. Her full comments to investigators were not made available and efforts by USA TODAY to reach Munro-Leighton were unsuccessful.

Trump picked up the Supreme Court theme in a Saturday tweet, saying, “A vicious accuser of Justice Kavanaugh has just admitted that she was lying, her story was totally made up, or FAKE!”

“Can you imagine if he didn’t become a Justice of the Supreme Court because of her disgusting False Statements,” he added. “What about the others? Where are the Dems on this?”

The “Jane Doe” letter and Munro-Leighton’s bit player role contrasts with the lengthy public appearance at the September hearing by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed he had assaulted her when they were in high school. She has stood by her charges, despite denials by Kavanaugh under oath.

Although Trump later mocked Ford’s appearance at the hearing, he initially said her testimony was “very compelling,” calling her a “very credible witness.” 

Grassley’s letter on the Munro-Leighton incident marks at least the fourth request Grassley has made of federal authorities to investigate those involved in the controversial Kavanaugh proceedings, which were extended due to a series of sexual assault allegations surfacing when Kavanaugh was in high school and college. 

Among accusers who came forth during the hearings is 43-year-old Deborah Ramirez, who, according to The New Yorker, alleges that Kavanaugh “thrust his penis in her face” during a party. Kavanaugh has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. 

 

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