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One Kavanaugh Accuser Faces Investigation For Lying, “Ploy”; NBC News Under Fire For Swetnick Story
November 3, 2018
US Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chair of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, has referred Justice Brett Kavanaugh accuser Judy Munro-Leighton to the Justice Department for investigation for “materially false statements she made to the Committee during the course” of its own investigation into allegations against Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh, nominated to the Supreme Court earlier this year, was accused late in his confirmation hearing by at least 3 women (most notably Dr. Christine Ford) of sexual misconduct and assault. After extended hearings and inquiries, and an FBI investigation, Kavanaugh was confirmed to the nation’s highest court October 6.
Munro-Leighton apparently approached the Judiciary Committee on October 3, eight days after staffers at the office of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) received an anonymous, handwritten letter in which a “Jane Doe” from Oceanside, CA claimed to have been repeatedly raped by Kavanaugh and a friend in the backseat of a car. No place, date, or other details were provided.
Then, on October 3, the Judiciary Committee received an email sent by Munro-Leighton, a Kentucky resident, in which she wrote in the subject line, “I am Jane Doe from Oceanside CA — Kavanaugh raped me.”
Grassley’s letter of referral for investigation of accuser Munro-Leighton comes after she admitted to investigators she had sought to “get attention” by sending her email. Grassley writes to the Justice Department the following:
“She further confessed to Committee investigators that (1) she ‘just wanted to get attention’; (2) ‘it was a tactic’; and (3) ‘that was just a ploy.’ She told Committee investigators that she had called Congress multiple times during the Kavanaugh hearing process – including prior to the time Dr. Ford’s allegations surfaced – to oppose his nomination. Regarding the false sexual-assault allegation she made via her email to the Committee, she said: ‘I was angry, and I sent it out.’ When asked by Committee investigators whether she had ever met Judge Kavanaugh, she said: ‘Oh Lord, no.’”
As for the author of the letter signed “Jane Doe” and sent to Sen. Harris’ office in San Diego, no further information is known. The letter, attached to Grassley’s referral, is written in nearly all block letters by a person claiming to be a teacher and parent. (WARNING: The letter is graphic.)
Though the letter writer claims to fear that “A group of white men powerful senators [sic] who won’t believe me will come after me,” the letter begins with “Dear Senator Grassley, et al.” Sen. Grassley is a white senator.
In related news, NBC News has faced stiff criticism for “sitting on” evidence that its story about Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick (backed by lawyer and Trump critic Michael Avenatti) was not only uncorroborated, but also contradicted by a key witness the network had interviewed. The network is said to have withheld these details for weeks. (Sen. Grassley also recently referred Avenatti and Swetnick to the Justice Department for investigation.)
Alex Griswold of the Editor’s Blog at the Washington Free Beacon writes:
“Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed October 6th. At the time of his confirmation, there was a sworn [by Swetnick] statement before Congress indicating that the Supreme Court nominee was a sexual assailant and drugged women. As far as the Senate and public knew, there was nothing indicating that statement was false.”
“NBC News knew that it was false,” Griswold writes. “Four days earlier, they at least had enough to report that Woman B had changed her story. And days before that, they knew that one of the witnesses that Swetnick alluded to could not “attest to the truthfulness” of her allegations as she claimed in her sworn statement.”
Griswold provides a timeline of NBC News’ handling of the story.
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