Maryland Authorities Have No Choice but to Investigate the New Allegations Against Kavanaugh
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
On Wednesday, attorney Michael Avenatti revealed a sworn declaration by his client, Julie Swetnick, alleging that, while in high school, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh targeted women for group sexual assault. Swetnick’s horrific allegations, put forth under penalty of perjury, describe “numerous boys” drugging and raping young women in Maryland during the early 1980s. Her declaration contradicts Kavanaugh’s statements while bolstering the accusation of Christine Blasey Ford, who claims a very drunken Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge sexually assaulted her around 1982.
Swetnick’s allegations require a thorough investigation on the part of Maryland authorities. She is alleging nothing less than a conspiracy of sex abuse involving multiple rapists, none of whom, apparently, have faced any punishment for their reported crimes. It’s worth noting that, unlike earlier accusations against Kavanaugh, Swetnick’s story was not vetted by journalists. That makes an investigation all the more necessary. Without one, there will now be a cloud over every male student in a very broad social circle. Swetnick implies that some number of young men were at the very least aware of grave sexual abuse and did not report it. Her allegation cannot be ignored. And if it isn’t true, it should not be allowed to hang over this entire cohort indefinitely. At this point, an investigation isn’t optional.
Swetnick’s declaration recounts alleged behavior on the part of Kavanaugh and others over the course of years. She claims that Kavanaugh and Judge engaged in persistent “inappropriate conduct,” including “the fondling and grabbing of girls without their consent.” Swetnick says that Kavanaugh and Judge would “spike” the punch at house parties with drugs or grain alcohol “to cause girls to lose their inhibitions.” They would, she alleges, “target” specific girls “so they could be taken advantage of.” She then states:
I also witnessed efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be “gang raped” in a side room or bedroom by a “train” of numerous boys. I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their “turn” with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.
Swetnick reports becoming “the victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes” where Judge and Kavanaugh “were present.” Her declaration does not clarify whether they participated in the alleged rape. She alleges she was drugged with Quaaludes “or something similar,” though she makes no claim regarding who may have drugged her.
Here, Swetnick has accused multiple men of rape, attempted rape, and conspiracy to commit rape. Even those men who did not directly participate in the alleged rape could be liable as accomplices depending on the kind of behavior they engaged in. Maryland has no statute of limitations for any felony sex crime , meaning charges could be brought today. These laws reflect an affirmative choice by the Legislature to give victims more time to come forward. It would make no sense to claim that Swetnick, Ford, and others waited too long to report these alleged crimes when Maryland has crafted statutes designed to let them report whenever they choose.
Moreover, Swetnick’s declaration expands the alleged crimes far beyond a single house party on one night in 1982. She asserts that Kavanaugh, Judge, and others engaged in “this conduct” in both Montgomery County, Maryland, and in Ocean City, across the state in Worcester County. Swetnick therefore alleges that these men committed crimes repeatedly, in multiple locations, in at least two jurisdictions within Maryland.
Local authorities in both counties would now seem to be obliged to look into the claims made in Swetnick’s declaration. The Sentinel reported on Monday that government investigators are “looking at allegations made against Kavanaugh during his senior year in high school.” If true, that’s a start. But it’s not enough. Investigators in both Montgomery County and Worcester County should question Kavanaugh, Judge, and others who may be involved about Swetnick’s allegations. They should also speak to Swetnick herself to glean more details, including possible locations and co-conspirators.
It is difficult to see why the men implicated in Swetnick’s statement wouldn’t also want a thorough investigation to exonerate them if they are innocent. Kavanaugh has already said he wants a “fair process,” and only law enforcement is equipped to handle charges of this nature. It is undoubtedly true that, as some Republican senators have noted , Avenatti has his own agenda. The just response, however, is not to disregard his client, but to urge official scrutiny of her claims.
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How often do I seed an article from Slate? This one I am in total agreement with.
Let the local cops investigate and vote on Kavanaugh Friday
The likelihood of any investigation being conclusive either way is infinitesimal, and everybody knows it. So it's not difficult to see why the men implicated don't want a prolonged shitstorm that isn't going to accomplish anything.
Pure political theater.
ANd with that comes the damage to reputations, regardless of if there is any substance.......BTW, was this the accuser that was in college at the time, going to High School parties? How many rape parties did she go to before tiring of them?
Wild thing is these days ...… That statement actually will become True …..to the best of someone's recollection !
So from that picture can I assume as a Dad I can have a talk with my daughter and tell her she doesn't ever have to worry about boys being sexually aggressive or possibly even try to assault or rape her? Should I let her know the problem's all fixed and she doesn't have to worry anymore because the real problem we should be worried about are false accusations of boys and not any actual assaults of our girls because that's just so rare now?
" One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives"
" Nearly one in 10 women has been raped by an intimate partner in her lifetime, including completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration or alcohol/drug-facilitated completed penetration."
" 91% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are female, and 9% are male"
" In eight out of 10 cases of rape, the victim knew the person who sexually assaulted them"
" More than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault"
How does that compare to the statistics of false reports?
" A multi-site study of eight U.S. communities including 2,059 cases of sexual assault found a 7.1 percent rate of false reports"
" A study of 136 sexual assault cases in Boston from 1998-2007 found a 5.9 percent rate of false reports"
" Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, researchers studied 812 reports of sexual assault from 2000-2003 and found a 2.1 percent rate of false reports"
So somewhere between 2% and 8% of the reported cases have been deemed "unfounded" or "false".
So that means 20% of women will be raped at some point in their lives with somewhere between 60% to 90% going unreported. So out of 10000 women, 2000 will be raped at some time in their lives, 1800 won't likely report it, and of the 200 who do statistically, between 4 and 16 of those cases may be false or unfounded.
The meme above is offensive. It's implying the reverse of what the statistics actually show all in an attempt to defend and deflect attention from the very real problem of sexual assault and forcible rape of our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers. That is something I highly doubt would be lost on that mother pictured so it's far more likely she is telling her son to keep his hands to himself, don't hit and definitely don't grab, hurt or push girls, and when he's a little older she'll be telling him to treat women with respect and never ever think forcing himself on a girl is acceptable.
The "Most wonderful place on earth" Fantasy I've ever seen from Liberals on any of this.
Which is the primary objective.
Whatever keeps your boat afloat !
I apologize for not thinking I needed a /s after that obviously sarcastic comment. I hoped the entirety of my post would make that point clear, but I guess I have to make sure I spell it out for the denser audience.
You have whatever talk you like. It's your daughter.
As for me, the conversation I had with my daughter was more along the lines of "pay attention to your surroundings, don't assume people are always going to behave well, and don't put yourself in positions with high odds of you becoming a victim." She's done fine. But she doesn't go out and get shitfaced around a bunch of men she doesn't know.
And 7% result in a conviction. The other 86-91%, we can't say for certain, because rape reports are only considered "false" if an investigation proves they never occurred.
Were we supposed to read their minds?
So is your presupposition that women are 90% less likely to lie than men are to be rapists.
Your own numbers do not support this. According to your own figures, anywhere between 22% and 50% of the accusations that are actually verified one way or the other are proven to be false. That doesn't count the ones where the "victim" makes an accusation, provides no evidence, and stops pursuing the charge without recanting her story....which is how most of these cases end up.
No...it's in attempt to call attention to the very real problem facing our sons.
If ya gotta spell it out for yourself.....have at it !
The captioned picture I put up is what "These Days" have become. SAD !
Actually, it's easy to see. All you have to do is scan the internet or turn on a television. You've got people saying "women must be believed." You've got people observing that he attended parties and drank beer and saying "A-ha! There's all the proof you need that the man is a sexual predator!"
I'm beginning to think that these days it pays for young men to be gay, especially if they want a future as politicians or judges.
Until other guys come forward and claim sexual assault by them. I saw a meme the other day......a small baby being held by a Hooter's Waitress-the baby had his hand on her breast-the caption read, well, he can never serve on the SCOTUS.............
what about the Priesthood ?
a statement taken by an attorney, sworn or not does not force anything on any legal entity, she knows where the police station is. they have the proper forms to make formal complaints. ya can't just create your own... LOL
im not sure how she explains why she attended many known rape parties and did not call the police at the time. she sounds like a real piece of shit to me already... why didn't she report that yrs ago?
did she just like watching but did not like being on stage?
she will never file a formal complaint with the proper authorities... or she already would have.
she is full of shit.
but... then again...
anyone stupid enough to attend known rape parties multiple times is stupid enough to not know where the police station is. someone should give her the address to her local cop shop
So, for years she goes to parties where there is persistent inappropriate conduct, including gang rape? And, she apparently willingly attended the parties? Again, for years? I call bullshit.
Swetnick who while in college claims to have attended multiple rape parties thrown by high school boys, is a litigious long standing client of Dr. Ford's democratic activist attorney. She also had a restraining order filed against her after she threatened the baby and wife of an ex boyfriend.
You can't make this up.
Put a fricken fork in ole Krazy Kavanaugh