As the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed on Wednesday a sworn statement given by Julie Swetnick, who alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh took part in gang-raping girls as a high school student and was "present" when she herself was gang-raped at a party when in high school,Democratic lawmakers and political observers demanded that Kavanaugh's nomination be immediately withdrawn.
"Given the mounting allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearings should be canceled, and Kavanaugh's nomination must be withdrawn," Shaunna Thomas, executive director of UltraViolet, said in a statement. "It is a travesty to force Dr. Christine Blasey Ford to testify alone, when there are numerous other accusers and witnesses who have valuable testimony to provide to the Senate. Violence against women should have no place in our society and it certainly should have no place on the highest court in the nation. This charade has gone on long enough: Kavanaugh must withdraw immediately."
Planned Parenthood also called for an FBI investigation into Swetnick's claims, as well as those of Deborah Ramirez and Ford, the first woman to accuse Kavanaugh of assault. Ford is scheduled to testify before the committee on Thursday and agreed to do so despite the White House's refusal to order the Justice Department to investigate her allegations.
"What we do as a Senate today, how we react to these allegations and what message we send by how we deal with them, is critically important," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC on Wednesday after Swetnick went public.
Swetnick's sworn statement was released about 24 hours before Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was scheduled to testify before the Judiciary Committee, and hours after Ford's lawyers released four sworn statements from supporting witnesses corroborating her claim of sexual assault--statements that the Republican-led committee has shown no interest in examining.
The calls for withdrawal echoed that of Michael Avenatti, who is representing Swetnick and who also publicized numerous emails he had sent to the Judiciary Committee regarding the allegations, before releasing Swetnick's affidavit Wednesday morning.
Bolstered by a career in public service, including numerous government security clearances, the fact that Swetnick signed her declaration "under penalty of perjury" and said she "fully understands the seriousness" of her charges did not keep Trump from calling her claims into question.
Some also pointed out that Swetnick's claims matched those of an ex-girlfriend of Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's high school classmate who Swetnick named as allegedly joining Kavanaugh in gang-raping girls at house parties in the 1980s.
In Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow's New Yorker article detailing the allegations of Ramirez on Sunday, the journalists reported that the ex-girlfriend had "recalled that Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman."
Meanwhile, the White House released a brief statement from Kavanaugh denying the accusations made by Swetnick.
"This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don't know who this is and this never happened," read the statement.
The social change network CREDO Action went further than calling for the withdrawal of Kavanaugh's nomination, demanding that he be removed from the seat he already holds as a federal judge in the D.C. Circuit Court.
"We believe Julie Swetnick, Deborah Ramirez and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford," said CREDO Action Co-Director Heidi Hess. "How many women need to come forward with credible allegations before Senate Republicans and Donald Trump will acknowledge that Brett Kavanaugh is a sexual predator and a liar? ...This entire confirmation process has been a case study in Republicans' misogyny and disregard for the truth. Once Brett Kavanaugh's nomination has finally been withdrawn or defeated, he should be impeached from the D.C. Circuit."
