September 26, 2018

Woman Comes Forward With Allegations Kavanaugh Engaged in Efforts to “Gang Rape” and Spike Drinks

Julie Swetnick is the third woman to accuse the Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct.

Erin Scott/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

A third woman has come forward with detailed sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.

A court filing by Julie Swetnick includes claims that she witnessed Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge regularly drinking excessively during Washington, DC, house parties in the early 1980s, where the two men engaged in “abusive and physically aggressive behavior towards girls.” 

Swetnick also alleges Kavanaugh and Judge would “spike” drinks with drugs and alcohol. “I also witnessed efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh, and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so that they could then be ‘gang-raped’ in a side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys,” Swetnick said in her sworn statement.

Swetnick is being represented by Michael Avenatti. 

“This morning Michael Avenatti provided a declaration to the Judiciary Committee,” a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said in a statement shortly after the affidavit was posted online. “Committee lawyers are in the process of reviewing it now.”

Kavanaugh later released a statement denying Swetnick’s allegations. “This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”

https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1044960428730843136

https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1044960940884709378

This is a breaking news post. We will update as more information becomes available.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate