One of the most salacious, yet unverified allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was dropped by sleazy anti-Trump attorney Michael Avenatti, whose client, Julie Swetnick, alleged that Kavanaugh and others were involved in drugging, assaulting and gang-raping girls at parties. For his part, Kavanaugh dismissed the claims as “from the twilight zone.”
Swetnick’s uncorroborated allegations have, predictably, crumbled under scrutiny, particularly after she appeared to walk back her most explosive claims during an NBC interview Monday. Fox News contributor Guy Benson noted as much, pointing out that she “totally changed her story.”
“The more we learn about it, the more it looks like a complete ludicrous hoax,” he added.
“Totally changed her story”
Appearing in a televised interview with NBC News that aired Monday evening, Swetnick appeared to undermine her previous statements on some of the most serious aspects of her allegations. That would include his alleged drugging of young girls via spiked punch and his direct participation in gang rapes, which she now could not definitively declare he had actually been involved in, much less that such incidents had even occurred.
“[Swetnick] went on another network yesterday and totally changed her story in a number of huge, meaningful ways,” Benson explained during an appearance Tuesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom”
“She said that she was aware of (Kavanaugh and his friends) spiking the punch and now she says ‘well, they were near the punch,’ and she said there were gang rapes at the party, well maybe there were gang rapes at the party, and (Kavanaugh) was there and maybe he did it, but I’m not really sure,” said Benson, summing up Swetnick’s shifting narrative.
“Complete ludicrous hoax”
It was noted that Swetnick’s accusation had been entered into the Judiciary Committee record by Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein on the day before the public hearing in which Kavanaugh delivered sworn testimony to defend himself.
“On Wednesday this Avenatti bomb gets dropped and all Democrats on the Judiciary Committee validated it by reacting to it with an official letter calling on Kavanaugh to withdraw, based on a story they knew nothing about,” said Benson. “And the more we learn about it, the more it looks like a complete ludicrous hoax,” he added.
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“False affidavit”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) went even further than Benson, saying that “a criminal referral should be sent to the FBI/DOJ” on Avenatti and Swetnick’s apparently false statement.
A criminal referral should be sent to the FBI/DOJ regarding the apparently false affidavit signed by Julie Swetnick that was submitted to the Senate by @MichaelAvenatti.
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) October 2, 2018
Attorney Alan Dershowitz thinks that Avenatti might be forced to back down after the disastrous NBC interview. “[Avenatti] may now have an ethical obligation to withdraw Swetnick’s affidavit, since she contradicted material portions of it in a tv interview,” Dershowitz tweeted Wednesday.
.@MichaelAvenatti may now have an ethical obligation to withdraw Swetnick’s affidavit, since she contradicted material portions of it in a tv interview.
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) October 3, 2018
The Swetnick allegation came across as an unbelievable farce from the moment it was first introduced — especially considering the source, Michael Avenatti — and has only become even more unbelievable.
The several other uncorroborated allegations against Kavanaugh have similarly weakened under scrutiny. It increasingly appears as though the nominee will survive this concerted assault from the left on his good name and reputation and will eventually take up his seat on the bench of the Supreme Court.