Dershowitz: Avenatti may have ‘ethical obligation’ to withdraw Swetnick affidavit

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz suggested Wednesday that lawyer Michael Avenatti might have a moral duty to withdraw Julie Swetnick’s sworn affidavit that alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to drug girls while he was in high school.

“@MichaelAvenatti may now have an ethical obligation to withdraw Swetnick’s affidavit, since she contradicted material portions of it in a tv interview,” Dershowitz, who is also an opinion contributor for The Hill, said in a tweet.

.@MichaelAvenatti may now have an ethical obligation to withdraw Swetnick’s affidavit, since she contradicted material portions of it in a tv interview.

— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) October 3, 2018

Avenatti, who’s also representing adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, submitted Swetnick’s allegation to the Senate Judiciary Committee last Wednesday.

{mosads}In her affidavit, Swetnick said that she “witnessed efforts by … Kavanaugh … to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped’ in a side room.”

During an interview Monday with NBC News, Swetnick seemed to couch aspects of her accusation.

“I saw him giving red Solo cups to quite a few girls during that timeframe, and there was grain punch at those parties,” she said. “I don’t know what he did, but I saw him by [the punch bowls].”

Kavanaugh has denied Swetnick’s allegation, as well as those of two other women who have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct.

Swetnick also reiterated in the NBC interview that she believes Kavanaugh was part of efforts to gang rape girls at house parties.

“Until what happened to me happened to me, I didn’t put two and two together,” she told NBC News. “I would see boys standing outside of rooms congregated together, sort of like a gauntlet, and I didn’t know what was occurring. But I would see them laughing.”

She said she did not see the boys “lining up,” but that they did form groups in the halls.

Swetnick also provided the names of four people who she said could confirm her characterization of the house parties.

Of the four, one is dead, two did not respond, and the fourth said they did not remember Swetnick, according to NBC News.

Avenatti defended his client’s affidavit Wednesday.

“Evidently, you are incapable of reading the affidavit word for word. She did not contradict material portions of it,” Avenatti wrote on Twitter. “Any inconsistencies were trivial.”

Evidently, you are incapable of reading the affidavit word for word. She did not contradict material portions of it. Any inconsistencies were trivial. What about the second declaration that supports it? You should know better than to spew nonsense. #HasBeen

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) October 3, 2018

Updated at 12:57 p.m.