Tearful Kavanaugh Explains Words in Yearbook

Says 'Renate Alumnus' was not about sex
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2018 4:27 PM CDT
Tearful Kavanaugh Explains Words in Yearbook
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018.   (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Brett Kavanaugh got emotional multiple times during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, and one of those moments came during his opening statement when he addressed the allegation that there is a sexual boast about a friend included on his high school yearbook page. Kavanaugh's page refers to him as a "Renate Alumnus," which was reportedly meant as a brag about a sexual conquest. The "Renate" in question, Renate Schroeder Dolphin, said that such an "insinuation is horrible, hurtful, and simply untrue." During his opening statement, Kavanaugh teared up when he described Schroeder Dolphin as a good friend, clarified they never slept together, and insisted the yearbook mention didn't mean what was reported.

"As high school students, we sometimes did goofy or stupid things. I doubt we're alone in looking back at high school and cringing at some things. For one thing, our yearbook was a disaster," he said, per CNN. "One of our good female friends, who we would admire and went to dances with, had her name used on the yearbook page with the term alumnus. That yearbook reference was clumsily intended to show affection and that she was one of us. But in this circus, the media has interpreted the term was related to sex. It was not related to sex." He went on to apologize to Schroeder Dolphin, though his explanation of the yearbook reference was decried as unlikely by some. Kavanaugh was later made to discuss the yearbook again under questioning by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. Among other things, he told Whitehouse one word used in the yearbook "refers to flatulence. We were 16." He also had to explain a drinking game referred to in the yearbook and talk a lot about his "weak stomach." BuzzFeed, which calls the line of questions and answers "really something," has video here. (More Brett Kavanaugh stories.)

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