OPINION:
The attempted murder of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh was forgotten as fast as any major news story.
A guy equipped with a mass murder’s tool kit — a gun, bullets, zip ties, duct tape, hammer, screwdriver — targeting the Supreme Court justice, at his doorstep, became something for the local crime wire.
News reports said Nicholas J. Roske showed up “near” the Kavanaugh residence. A cab actually dropped him off in front of the Chevy Chase home.
Social media posts said he had second thoughts and quickly turned himself in. The FBI affidavit says this: When he got out of the cab he looked at two armed U.S. marshals staring back at him. At this point, his plot foiled, he started walking in the other direction.
The federal officers sent to protect Justice Kavanaugh likely saved his life, if in fact he was at home that night. This is no thanks to the Biden White House, which encouraged the intrusive, stalking of conservative justices.
President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland are ignoring a federal law that makes intimidating judges illegal. Mr. Biden is good at ignoring laws. He has ignored U.S. immigration law to open the southern border to new Democratic voters. With the flood comes Mexican cartels trafficking child sex, slavery and drugs.
The FBI’s June 8 affidavit justifying a charge of attempted murder against Mr. Roske describes the scene outside the Kavanaugh home.
“On June 8, 2022, at approximately 1:05 a.m., two United States Deputy Marshals saw an individual dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase, get out of a taxicab that had stopped in front of the Montgomery County, Maryland residence of a current Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The individual looked at the two Deputy U.S. Marshals, who were standing next to their parked vehicle, and then turned to walk down the street.”
Simply put, the plot was stopped.
The affidavit continued: “Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center fielded a call from an individual who identified himself as Nicholas John Roske. Roske informed the call taker that he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase. Roske also told the call taker he came from California to kill a specific United States Supreme Court justice.”
“An inventory search of the seized suitcase and backpack revealed a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crowbar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items.”
In custody, Mr. Roske told an FBI agent that he worried that Justice Kavanaugh would lead the way in overturning Roe v. Wade and defending the Second Amendment.
“Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the Internet. Roske further indicated that he had purchased the Glock pistol and other items for the purpose of breaking into the Justice’s residence and killing the Justice as well as himself.”
Mr. Roske is squarely in the liberal mainstream. A Southern Poverty Law Center poll of 1,500 adults found that 44% of young Democrats could back the idea of killing a politician they viewed as harming the country.
Democrats declared open season on Justice Kavanaugh from the start of his 2018 confirmation hearing. They came short of encouraging violence. This is if you exclude Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s message to a rowdy band of pro-abortion leftists on the steps of the Supreme Court.
“I want to tell you, [Justice Neil] Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price,” Mr. Schumer said, whipping them into a frenzy. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
The Trump-nominated Kavanaugh faced the most Democratic-maligned Senate confirmation in history, beating out the savagery Democrats inflicted on Black conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.
Among the Democrats’ anti-Kavanaugh arsenal: A slick southern California attorney, Michael Avenatti, who arrived in Washington to the title of “Holy Spirit,” as one liberal pundit anointed him. CNN promoted him as the next president. Of the United States.
Avenatti produced a witness who said bad things about the nominee’s high school years. “Gang rape,” no less.
The witness launched Avenatti, fresh from his representation of supposed Trump lover Stormy Daniels, into a new career as Senate confirmation rule-maker.
“I represent a woman with credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and [school friend] Mark Judge,” Avenatti tweeted. “We will be demanding the opportunity to present testimony to the committee and will likewise be demanding that Judge and others be subpoenaed to testify. The nomination must be withdrawn.”
On CNN, he issued a direct order. “So let this be a warning to Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh and other surrogates, including those on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I will caution you, be very, very careful if you launch some smear campaign against my client, because you will be ultimately shown to be a fraud.”
Who knew then that liberals were promoting an incredibly corrupt trial lawyer who steals money from clients. Who knew? The conservative media, such as The Daily Caller, which checked court records and wrote about him.
His client later said that Avenatti had embellished her affidavit. Republicans said he lied.
Avenatti is now in prison for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike.
On June 16, he appeared in federal court to plead guilty to embezzling clients’ cash to finance an elaborate lifestyle.
“Michael Avenatti Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud and Tax Charges That Allege He Stole Millions of Dollars from Clients,” said the Justice Department press release, which noted he faces a maximum prison sentence of 83 years.
Looking back, Avenatti’s Kavanaugh character assassination drew blood, but not the knockout liberal Washington wished.
Mr. Roske is also in jail. He was, allegedly, going to finish the job. His June 15 indictment states he “did attempt to kill a Justice of the United States.”
• Rowan Scarborough is a columnist for the Washington Times.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.