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On Monday, another former classmate of Brett Kavanaugh came forward to dispute the testimony of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee in last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Chad Ludington, a 1987 Yale graduate, recalled how Kavanaugh started a bar fight following a UB40 concert that resulted in the arrest of another friend of theirs. Ludington said he felt it was his civic duty to come forward to speak the truth on Kavanaugh. “I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking, and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth,” he told CNN.
His statements join an increasingly loud chorus of voices who say, at the very least, Kavanaugh has not been forthright about his drinking, which is becoming the smoking gun as to whether or not a guy who wants to sit on the highest court in the land lied under oath.
New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin, who was also a classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale, and Kate Kelly, who attended a Washington D.C. all-girls private high school and had connections to Kavanaugh, found themselves in the middle of the scandal as it was unfolding. On Tuesday, both Pogrebin and Kelly spoke with host Michael Barbaro on The Daily podcast (from the New York Times) to sort through the growing number of claims made by former friends and classmates.
Pogrebin said that it was after the hearing that the gloves really came off, as they watched Kavanaugh — who supposedly had a reputation as a guy “known for holding up the walls” — blatantly misrepresent himself and his drinking before the Senate.
Kelly, on the other hand, spoke to several former classmates who gave the inside scoop on the woman named Renate Schroeder Dolphin, who was repeatedly mentioned by Kavanaugh’s football buddies in their high school yearbook in reference to something called the “Renate Alumni.” Kavanaugh claimed that the mentions were innocent, and that they had just been good friends with the Catholic girls’ school student.
“The people I was talking to who knew him at the time cried BS on this,” said Kelly. “They said, Brett Kavanaugh spoke about her disrespectfully, so did his friends, it was not at all as he’s presenting it, and that’s just a lie.”
Unfortunately, getting to the root of what happened between Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford may be an impossible task, since both Kelly and Pogrebin spoke with people who believe that both parties are technically telling the truth, which may be the most troubling thing of all.
There was one alumnus I talked to who said he actually thinks both Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and he believes Brett Kavanaugh,” Kelly said. “He thinks that Brett Kavanaugh, at least in terms of the Blasey Ford allegations is telling the truth, as he recalls it. He thinks the missing link that might be the connective tissue for the two accounts, is that Kavanaugh at the time had an over-drinking problem, he blacked out, and he truly doesn’t remember.”
And with the Senate hoping to put the decision to a vote this week, even more former acquaintances may continue to come forward to the media as some who have actually reached out to the FBI have not been contacted yet and don’t expect to be heard.
In lieu of hard evidence, Pogrebin pointed out that the litmus test will likely come down to whether or not Kavanaugh’s character is worthy, and whether or not he’s telling the truth. “Basically, does the Senate care?” Barbaro summarized at the end of the podcast, to which Pogrebin added, “And does the FBI care?”
Either way, it looks like we’ll be finding out sooner rather than later.
(Via New York Times)