Kavanaugh friend says he’ll cooperate with ‘confidential’ law enforcement investigation

Mark Judge, a high school friend of Brett Kavanaugh’s whom Christine Blasey Ford says was in the room during her 1980s sexual assault at the Supreme Court nominee’s hands, says he will cooperate with a “confidential” FBI investigation into the allegation.

Judge’s statement follows the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote along party lines Friday afternoon sending Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote, accompanied by a statement from Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) claiming that he will vote against Kavanaugh’s nomination unless the FBI is allowed to look into the claims further.

{mosads}Judge wrote to the top Judiciary panel senators on Friday, explaining that he denies allegations brought forward by Kavanaugh’s latest accuser, Julie Swetnick, and that he will cooperate with any investigation that takes place ahead of Kavanaugh’s vote on the Senate floor.

“I will cooperate with any law enforcement agency that is assigned to confidentially investigate these allegations,” Judge wrote in the letter provided by his lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder.

“The allegations in the Swetnick affidavit are so bizarre that, even while suffering from my addiction, I would remember actions so outlandish. I categorically deny them,” Judge added in the brief statement. 

“I do not know Julie Swetnick,” he went on, saying: “I do not recall attending parties during 1981-1983 when I fondled or grabbed women in an aggressive or unwanted manner.”

Flake has called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to delay Kavanaugh’s vote by a week to facilitate further investigation.

“I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation, limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there,” he said Friday.

Flake’s statement was later backed up by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), suggesting that Republicans may lack the votes needed to confirm President Trump’s nominee without agreeing to the lawmakers’ terms.