New Yorker Publishes Account of 2nd Kavanaugh Accuser

Deborah Ramirez describes alleged Yale incident
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 23, 2018 8:23 PM CDT
New Yorker Publishes Account of 2nd Kavanaugh Accuser
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, walks through a tunnel towards the Dirksen Senate Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says he sexually assaulted her as a teenager, as a claim of sexual misconduct emerged from another woman. The New Yorker magazine reported Sunday night that Senate Democrats were investigating a second woman's accusation of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh dating to the 1983-84 academic year, Kavanaugh's first at Yale University. The New Yorker said 53-year-old Deborah Ramirez described the incident in an interview after being contacted by the magazine. Ramirez recalled that Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away, the magazine reported, per the AP.

In a statement provided by the White House, Kavanaugh said the event "did not happen" and that the allegation was "a smear, plain and simple." A White House spokeswoman added in a second statement that the allegation was "designed to tear down a good man." The new information came hours after the Senate committee agreed to a date and time for a hearing after nearly a week of uncertainty over whether Ford would appear to tell her story. The New Yorker reports it reached out to Ramirez after learning of the alleged incident, and that she responded after six days of inventorying her memories and speaking with her lawyer. An excerpt from the piece:

  • "Brett was laughing," she said. "I can still see his face, and his hips coming forward, like when you pull up your pants." She recalled another male student shouting about the incident. "Somebody yelled down the hall, 'Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie's face,'" she said. "It was his full name. I don't think it was just 'Brett.' And I remember hearing and being mortified that this was out there."
(More Brett Kavanaugh stories.)

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