For Democrats intent on whipping up opposition to Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh by leveraging the #MeToo movement, Juanita Broaddrick is their worst nightmare.
Democrats have no answer for Ms. Broaddrick, who has long said that she was raped by President Clinton, as she undermines the Democratic Party’s attacks on Judge Kavanaugh while giving voice to conservative women seething over the Supreme Court confirmation spectacle.
“I think he’s been treated so poorly,” Ms. Broaddrick told The Washington Times. “And they say, ’Well, he became belligerent, he became awful.’ My God, he was calm compared to what I would be if some person had accused me of that and I didn’t do it.”
The 75-year-old retired Arkansas businesswoman arrived Thursday in Washington, D.C., for the Women for America First Summit 2018 after a string of media appearances taking on Senate Democrats determined to tank Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.
She has thrown her support behind Judge Kavanaugh, saying, “I believe this man,” while denouncing the full-court press to discredit him with allegations of sexual misconduct as a “travesty of justice.”
Ms. Broaddrick had largely exited the public eye after making life uncomfortable for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, but re-entered the fray shortly after Christine Blasey Ford accused Judge Kavanaugh last month of trying to rape her when they were in high school.
Watching Democratic senators stand behind the allegations, despite no corroborating witnesses or evidence, after dismissing her in 1999 “was more than I could take,” Ms. Broaddrick said.
“What really upset me with all of this, what brought this to a head, was to see Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein come out with such scanty, vague allegations, and work this around the way that they did after what they did to me in ’99,” she said.
“These same three refused to read my deposition with the independent counsel about my rape,” Ms. Broaddrick said. “They would have nothing to do with it, along with every other Democrat.”
For every Democratic talking point, she has a blunt and usually devastating rejoinder. When Democrats insist they want women to be believed, Ms. Broaddrick points out that they never believed she was raped in 1978 by then-Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton, which he has denied.
Ms. Feinstein has expressed alarm over the sexual assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, but Ms. Broaddrick says the California Democrat blew her off during the 1999 Clinton impeachment proceedings.
Senate Democrats have demanded a thorough FBI investigation. It turns out Ms. Broaddrick wants an FBI investigation into Mr. Clinton.
She and her supporters posted a White House petition Wednesday demanding an investigation into “Bill Clinton’s sex crimes,” saying federal involvement is warranted because “the crimes may have occurred across state lines.”
“We demand an investigation into the rape of Juanita Broaddrick,” the petition states. “Additionally, these may constitute civil rights violations because women were specifically were targeted.”
Ms. Broaddrick has become something of a Kavanaugh hypocrisy detective on her Twitter account, @atensnut, which is short for “a tennis nut.” Her grandson set it up for her two years ago. She has 113,000 followers.
This week, she took on actress Alyssa Milano, who has become Judge Kavanaugh’s harshest celebrity critic, digging up a 2012 tweet from Ms. Milano’s account saying, “Bill Clinton, I love you so much.”
When Mrs. Clinton weighed in on the Kavanaugh allegations this week by saying that “women’s lives, women’s narratives, they’ve been historically dismissed, condescended to,” Ms. Broaddrick unloaded.
“You are full of it Hypocrite Hillary,” Ms. Broaddrick tweeted.
Given her history, Ms. Broaddrick might be expected to side with Ms. Ford, a Palo Alto University psychology professor. But the lack of evidence troubles her, as well as Ms. Ford’s inability to recall basic details such as when and where the alleged attack occurred.
“It’s something you do not forget, unless you were severely injured or brain damaged,” Ms. Broaddrick said. “These things are harrowing. They stay with you.”
Ms. Broaddrick supported President Trump, but she isn’t a die-hard partisan: She sided with Anita Hill during the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas. The difference is that Ms. Ford’s account didn’t ring true to her.
“The reason I was upset is because I had so much proof that it happened,” Ms. Broaddrick said. “And in this situation there isn’t any. There’s none. And being a real victim and knowing what it’s like to go through something like that, I just didn’t get that from her at all.”
Ms. Broaddrick, who owned nursing homes in Arkansas, had corroboration: The woman she was traveling with found her in the Little Rock hotel room shortly after the alleged attack, bleeding, her clothes torn, her lip swollen.
“She found me in horrible condition within 30 minutes,” she said.
She has formed a social media alliance with Karen Monahan, who has accused her ex-boyfriend, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, of “emotional and physical abuse” during their long-term relationship.
Mr. Ellison, who is running for Minnesota attorney general, has denied the claims, including her allegation that he dragged her from a bed in 2016 and screamed obscenities at her.
Ms. Monahan told Ms. Broaddrick in a Sunday tweet that she was “so sorry for what you went through. Thank you for being a voice for women around the country.”
Ms. Broaddrick, who had earlier called for an investigation into the Ellison allegations, thanked Ms. Monahan, and suggested a hashtag other than #MeToo for women who make abuse accusations against Democrats.
“Our hashtag should be #WhatAboutUs,” Ms. Broaddrick said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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