Republicans attempt to speed up Brett Kavanaugh 's confirmation after a second woman accused him of sexual misconduct



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Mitch McConnell and Brett Kavanaugh

Somodevilla with nuggets

The news comes a few days before he faces his first accuser in the Senate.

As recently as this weekend, Republicans were still refining their defenses for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. At that time, they had resorted to 30-year-old calendars that Kavanaugh had produced, which, incredibly, had not entered for "sexual assault" and rhetorically asked: " What boy did not do that in high school? " "

Unfortunately, they are now fighting on a whole new front. On Sunday, New Yorker published a new investigation report by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer (the journalist at the origin of the book extensively studied) Dark money about the Koch brothers): a second woman claims to be a victim of sexual misconduct on the part of Kavanaugh. Deborah Ramirez was a classmate at Yale and, as one would expect in case of abuse, she was reluctant to speak at first. By New Yorker:

In his first conversations with New Yorkershe was reluctant to characterize with certainty Kavanaugh's role in the alleged incident. After six days of careful assessment of her memories and consultation with her lawyer, Ramirez stated that she felt confident enough to remember Kavanaugh who had been exposed to a drunken dorm, him had put the penis in her face and forced her to touch her without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez now calls the F.B.I. investigate Kavanaugh's role in the incident. "I would think a F.B.I. an investigation would be justified, "she said.

Kavanaugh has, once again, denied the allegations against him. But despite the story that only comes out this weekend, members of Congress have been aware of the charge as early as last week, the Democrats of the Senate having received advice from a lawyer specializing in civil rights. Although they responded by calling for an investigation, Republicans took a different approach:

Senior Republican officials also learned the allegation last week and, in conversations with New Yorker, worries about its potential impact on Kavanaugh's appointment. Shortly after, the Senate Republicans renewed their calls to speed up the vote in committee.

Of course, if these allegations are all false, one of the easiest ways to discredit them would be to conduct an FBI investigation. But Kavanaugh's popularity is quickly sinking, with Fox News having found in a poll that he had the lowest approval rating of all the candidates in the election. So, instead of delaying and risking more damage, the White House released a list of discussion points last Sunday to refute reports by Farrow and Mayer.

Donald Trump said Monday that he still supported Kavanaugh and that the allegations had probably been invented by Democrats. Other conservative experts have claimed that Democrats would oppose and slander any candidate Trump put it forward. However, it is difficult to take seriously the fact that three Democrats in the Senate broke ranks to confirm Neil Gorsuch last spring.

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