For some time, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford stood alone in accusing President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct. However there was a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, whose story of a drunk Brett Kavanaugh exposing himself to her while both were students at Yale would come out in The New Yorker.
When asked under oath about Ramirez, Kavanaugh stated he knew nothing about the second accusation until The New Yorker article came out on September 23. But according to texts between two of his friends from Yale—Kerry Berchem and Karen Yarasavage—Kavanaugh and his team reached out to friends who knew both the nominee and Ramirez to try to refute the allegations before the article's publication.
During an interview with Republican Judiciary Committee staff on September 25, after The New Yorker article detailing Ramirez's claims, Kavanaugh stated it was Ramirez who was "calling around to classmates trying to see if they remembered it." The nominee also stated:
"[It] strikes me as, you know, what is going on here? When someone is calling around to try to refresh other people? Is that what’s going on? What’s going on with that? That doesn’t sound — that doesn’t sound — good to me. It doesn’t sound fair. It doesn’t sound proper. It sounds like an orchestrated hit to take me out."
However, according to text messages, Kavanaugh and his team communicated with Yale friends to coordinate a defense against the claim before the story broke, not Ramirez trying to substantiate it. Kavanaugh asking friends to help refute a story he claimed was false before the date he stated under oath he learned of it, would prove Kavanaugh lied several times.
Because of this, Kerry Berchem hoped to turn over the text messages to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a memo she wrote about them. A resident of Connecticut, Berchem reached out to her Senator on the Judiciary Committee, Democrat Richard Blumenthal, last week. According to a spokesperson for the Connecticut Senator:
"We heard from Kerry late on Thursday and submitted her summary to the Judiciary Committee early Friday. After we were made to jump through several hoops that delayed our moving forward, it became clear that the majority Committee staff had not turned this summary over to the FBI and, in fact, had no intention of turning it over to the FBI. With our assistance, Kerry submitted her summary to the FBI herself."
A spokesperson from Republican Senator Chuck Grassley's office responded, stating Berchem's information regarding Kavanaugh attempting to coordinate Yale friends to refute Ramirez's story before the date he claimed under oath that he first learned of it, "do not appear relevant or contradictory." The spokesperson characterized Berchem's information as "another last-ditch effort to derail the nomination with baseless innuendo by Democrats."
In a statement to NBC News, Berchem said:
"I understand that President Trump and the U.S. Senate have ordered an FBI investigation into certain allegations of sexual misconduct by the nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I have no direct or indirect knowledge about any of the allegations against him."
"However, I am in receipt of text messages from a mutual friend of both Debbie and mine that raise questions related to the allegations. I have not drawn any conclusions as to what the texts may mean or may not mean but I do believe they merit investigation by the FBI and the Senate."
Berchem’s memo regarding messages with Yarasavage indicate a circle of Kavanaugh friends who may possess information and evidence regarding the Ramirez allegations. She also said Kavanaugh “and/or” his friends “may have initiated an anticipatory narrative” as early as July to “conceal or discredit” Ramirez.
This directly refutes the statement Kavanaugh made on September 25 which is a major issue.
Lying to Congress constitutes a felony offense whether testimony is taken under oath or not.
News of Berchem's information further bolstered belief that Kavanaugh lied numerous times during his confirmation process.
The Senate and White House requested an additional FBI inquiry to complete Kavanaugh's required background check before the full Senate votes to confirm Kavanaugh for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
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