'Good man' Kavanaugh now faces multiple accusations of sexual assault

When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of violently attempting to rape her when they were teenagers, many observers wondered if more allegations might follow.

It would fit a pattern that we’ve seen often in the #MeToo era: Powerful men getting away with sexual assault for decades because their victims were too scared or traumatized to speak out — until one brave woman finally breaks her silence, opening the floodgates of more women feeling empowered to come forward.

Ford going public, it seems, has opened the floodgates on Brett Kavanaugh.

In a Sunday New Yorker story by investigative reporters Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, alleged that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken dormitory party when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University.

And superstar attorney Michael Avenatti announced on Twitter Sunday night that he is representing a third, as-yet-unnamed woman, plus several corroborating witnesses, with allegations against Kavanaugh from his high school days at Georgetown Preparatory School.

Ramirez was reluctant to come forward at first because she had been drinking at the time and has gaps in her memory. But after many days of careful consideration and consulting with her attorney, Farrow and Mayer report, Ramirez is now “confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.”

Ramirez recalls being “repeatedly” chosen to drink as part of a drinking game, and quickly becoming inebriated. She remembers one male student pointing a “gag plastic penis” in her face, a second looking on, and a third — Kavanaugh — pulling out his real penis right in front of Ramirez’s face:

“I remember a penis being in front of my face,” she said. “I knew that’s not what I wanted, even in that state of mind.” She recalled remarking, “That’s not a real penis,” and the other students laughing at her confusion and taunting her, one encouraging her to “kiss it.” She said that she pushed the person away, touching it in the process. Ramirez, who was raised a devout Catholic, in Connecticut, said that she was shaken. “I wasn’t going to touch a penis until I was married,” she said. “I was embarrassed and ashamed and humiliated.” She remembers Kavanaugh standing to her right and laughing, pulling up his pants. “Brett was laughing,” she said. “I can still see his face, and his hips coming forward, like when you pull up your pants.” She recalled another male student shouting about the incident. “Somebody yelled down the hall, ‘Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie’s face,’ ” she said. “It was his full name. I don’t think it was just ‘Brett.’ And I remember hearing and being mortified that this was out there.”

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been investigating Ramirez’s claims, Farrow and Mayer report — but, shamefully, Senate Republicans actually called to “accelerate” a committee vote on Kavanaugh shortly after GOP staff learned of the new allegations.

As for the unnamed new victim and witnesses from Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Prep days, Avenatti told Politico his clients can corroborate that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge — whom Ford says was in the room when Kavanaugh assaulted her — helped target young women with alcohol or drugs so that they could be gang-raped.

Avenatti also tweeted the contents of an email that he sent to a Senate Judiciary Committee staffer, demanding that the new witnesses be called to publicly testify before the committee.

Avenatti also called for Kavanaugh to be asked some very specific, and very shocking, questions — like, “Did you ever target one or more women for sex or rape at a house party?” and, “Did you ever communicate with Mark Judge or anyone else about your participation in a ‘train’ involving an intoxicated woman?”

All of this adds up to a massive story that is sure to develop quickly this week.

It could easily delay the much-negotiated plans for both Kavanaugh and Ford to testify in public on Thursday in front of the Judiciary Committee. And it could derail Kavanaugh’s nomination entirely.

But whatever happens, one thing is now certain: Christine Blasey Ford is no longer alone.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.