Politics

New Yorker’s Jane Mayer Says New Sexual Misconduct Allegation Not Politically Motivated

Reuters

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The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer said Monday that there was no political motivation behind the sexual misconduct allegations made by a second woman against Judge Brett Kavanaugh just days before he was set to testify.

Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale University with Kavanaugh in the mid-’80s, shared her account of alleged sexual misconduct against the Supreme Court nominee in a New Yorker report Sunday night.

Ramirez said she pushed Kavanaugh away after he thrust his penis in her face during a dorm room party in college. She admitted to drinking heavily that night. However, after six days of careful reflection, she’s positive Kavanaugh was the perpetrator in her memory.

Kavanaugh, who was supposed to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday but was pushed tentatively back to Thursday due to negotiated terms by accuser Christine Blasey Ford and her attorneys, has strongly denied the story that Ramirez recalls.

Mayer joined NBC’s “Today” with Savannah Guthrie on Monday, who asked Mayer why she decided to come forward with the allegations at this “relatively late date.”

“The story broke overnight, but it dates back 35 years … she didn’t come forward with it,” Mayer said. “What happened was, the classmates at Yale were talking to each other about it, they were emailing about it.”

“We’ve seen the emails, back in July before Christine Blasey Ford came forward, and eventually the word of it spread,” Mayer added.

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Guthrie asked Mayer specifically about Ramirez’s political affiliations and if that was a motivation for the timing of the story. (RELATED: Yale Law Professor Says Reports That She Groomed Potential Kavanaugh Clerks Are ‘100% False’)

“She’s a registered Democrat, which we put in the story as well,” Mayer said.

“I also interviewed a woman who Judge Kavanaugh wanted us to talk to as someone who would defend him and I asked her outright, she knows Deborah Ramirez, and I said, ‘Do you think that politics was a motivation?’ and she said to me, ‘No.’ And she’s Kavanaugh’s defender, so nobody is really alleging that politics was the motivation here.”

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