The White House is pushing back Thursday on accusations that the FBI did not thoroughly pursue leads about Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s drinking habits or Deborah Ramirez’ sexual misconduct claims.
When asked during an interview on CNN’s “New Day” about why the FBI did not follow up on 20 individuals that Deborah Ramirez put forward, White House spokesman Raj Shah highlighted issues with one man’s account that supported her allegations. He argued the claim was essentially hearsay.
Mr. Shah referenced a New Yorker article quoting Kenneth Appold, a former suite mate of the future judge, who claimed to hear about the party where Judge Kavanaugh allegedly put his genitals in Ms. Ramirez’ face.
“I believe her because it matches the same story I heard thirty-five years ago, although the two of us have never talked,” Mr. Appold told the New Yorker.
“I’m not going out on a limb when I say that’s basically an example of hearsay and that’s not really worth the FBI’s time,” Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Appold tried to contact the friend who told him about the party but didn’t hear back. The New Yorker reported that the friend in question told them he had no memory of such an incident.
Mr. Shah was also pressed on why the White House did not direct the FBI to look into Judge Kavanaugh’s drinking.
Host Alisyn Camerota stressed that Jamie Roche, Chad Ludington and a female friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s in college told them that the Supreme Court nominee was not accurate in his testimony and often drank heavily. She argued investigating those claims were connected to determining if Judge Kavanaugh had memory lapses, to the point of not remembering the assaults he was accused of.
“They’re not actually claiming direct evidence of memory lapses,” Mr. Shah said. “They’re saying they don’t necessarily believe his testimony.”
Mr. Shah said the FBI reached out to 10 individuals in the probe and interviewed nine. Neither Judge Kavanaugh nor Christine Blasey Ford spoke with the FBI.
Judge Kavanaugh admitted to drinking beer in high school and college, sometimes heavily, but he denied ever passing out or blacking out from as a result.
“I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did,” he told the Judiciary Committee. “Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did.”
As Democrats’ honed in on Judge Kavanaugh’s drinking and alleged sexual activity in high school, he was asked by senators about the terms “boofing” and “Devil’s Triangle” that appeared in his yearbook profile.
The judge testified that one referred to flatulence and the other a drinking game, but Democrats remained unconvinced. Both terms have sexual meanings as well.
Four of Judge Kavanaugh’s classmates, and two non-Georgetown Prep friends, sent two letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee insisting that “Devil’s Triangle” is indeed a drinking game.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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