Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s former classmate denied being at the party described in Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations that Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her.
A lawyer for Patrick J. Smyth, a former classmate of Kavanaugh, sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to CNN, after Smyth was identified as a “PJ,” who attended the party where the alleged assault happened, according to CNN.
“I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question,” Smyth said in a statement.
“Nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh.” {mosads}Ford alleged that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and tried to force himself on her at a party in the early 1980s, the exact date and location of which she has not be able to specify.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s accusation and said that he never attended a party like the one she described.
Smyth’s lawyer Eric Bruce included a quote in which Smyth spoke to Kavanaugh’s good character.
“Personally speaking, I have known Brett Kavanaugh since high school and I know him to be a person of great integrity, a great friend, and I have never witnessed any improper conduct by Brett Kavanaugh towards women,” Smyth said.
CNN reports that Bruce’s letter will be sent to the committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) as well as the senator who brought the allegations to light and top committee Democrat, Dianne Feinstein (Calif.).
Feinstein announced that she was bringing the then secret allegations to the FBI last Thursday, one week before Kavanaugh’s originally scheduled confirmation vote.
Democrats were expected to lose the vote, which has been delayed to accommodate a hearing regarding the allegations next Monday.
Ford has said that she will not testify until an FBI investigation is completed, though the FBI has previously said that it considers the matter closed and that her allegations are entirely outside its federal jurisdiction.
Republicans have insisted that they want to hear from Ford, but will move forward with the hearing and then the vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, with or without her testimony.