New allegations surface against Kavanaugh

A second woman has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

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TNS

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley looks on before the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill Sept. 4, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

Emily Wangen, Politics Reporter

New allegations of sexual misconduct against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have been made in a report in The New Yorker, further complicating a judicial confirmation process headed by Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The committee’s Republican staff did not learn of the second person’s allegations until the The New Yorker‘s report, said Michael Zona, Communications Director for Grassley.

The allegations were made by Deborah Ramirez, a former classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale University, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while at a dorm-room party their freshman year, according to the report.

Zona told The DI that neither Ramirez nor a legal representative contacted Grassley’s office regarding these allegations prior to the publication of the report.

He did not comment Monday whether the schedule for Kavanaugh’s confirmation process would be altered due to new allegations.

Ramirez is the second woman to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. Palo Alto and Stanford professor Christine Blasey Ford told The Washington Post  last week that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

Kavanaugh addressed allegations from Ramirez and Ford in a letter Monday, stating he will not be intimidated into withdrawing from the confirmation process.

“The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out. The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. The last-minute character assassination will not succeed,” Kavanaugh wrote.

On Wednesday, Grassley told reporters in a news conference call that the committee would be taking sexual assault allegations from “step by step”. Kavanaugh and Ford are set to testify in front of the committee on Thursday.

“Sen. Grassley believes it’s important to hear from anyone who comes forward with allegations of sexual misconduct,” Zona said in an email to The Daily Iowan.

A vote decide Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the bench was set for Monday, but has been officially postponed to an undetermined date.