GOP senator accuses Dems of ‘character assassination’ on Kavanaugh
GOP Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) is accusing Democrats of a “character assassination” on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as multiple allegations of sexual misconduct emerge against him.
Cotton on Monday morning said Democrats are “engaged in a campaign of delay and character assassination against Judge Kavanaugh.”
{mosads}”It’s time to vote this week,” he tweeted.
The Democrats are engaged in a campaign of delay and character assassination against Judge Kavanaugh. It’s time to vote this week.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 24, 2018
His remarks come one day after a second woman came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh.
Deborah Ramirez in a New Yorker article published on Sunday said Kavanaugh exposed himself without her consent during a Yale University gathering in the 1980s, when the two were both students. She said she hopes her account will lend credence to the accusation from Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to remove her clothing during a high school party in 1982.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and the White House has pushed back particularly hard against the Ramirez story, noting that no other witnesses say they saw the incident and highlighting reporting in The New York Times that Ramirez herself has a hazy recollection of what happened.
Cotton is one of the first GOP senators to speak out regarding the allegation from Ramirez, following Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who tweeted Sunday night that “only a partisan” would find the emerging allegations “credible.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a statement said the panel will “of course … attempt to evaluate these new claims.”
The White House said in a statement that Ramirez’s account is part of a “smear campaign” by Democrats, echoing language from Kavanaugh’s denial.
“This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen,” Kavanaugh said. “The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple.”
Multiple Democrats, including the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), are calling for an FBI investigation into the new allegation from Ramirez.
Kavanaugh and Ford are set to testify publicly on Thursday.
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