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Brett Kavanaugh, facing more sexual misconduct allegations, vows: ‘I’m not going anywhere’

The Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh is in disarray as a second woman has come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.

FILE – In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, after more than an hour of delay over procedural questions, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh waits to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the third day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers has come forward to The Washington Post.
FILE – In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, after more than an hour of delay over procedural questions, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh waits to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the third day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers has come forward to The Washington Post.Read moreAP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File

Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination has once again been thrown into disarray, after a second woman has come forward to accuse Trump's pick of sexual misconduct.

Further adding to the growing chaos surrounding Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, a lawyer indicated more allegations could emerge, and the nominee and his wife addressed the misconduct accusations in an interview scheduled to air on Fox News on Monday night.

Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale University with Kavanaugh, told the New Yorker in a story published Sunday evening that the Supreme Court nominee pulled down his pants and thrust his penis in her face during a drunken dormitory party during the 1983-84 academic year, causing her to touch it without her consent as she attempted to push him away.

"She remembers vividly Brett Kavanaugh laughing at her during this incident, pulling his pants up afterwards," Ronan Farrow, one of the New Yorker reporters who spoke with Ramirez, told CNN Monday morning.

Kavanaugh vehemently denied the new allegations, calling them a "smear, plain and simple" in a letter he sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday afternoon.

"There is now a frenzy to come up with something – anything – that will block this process and a vote on my confirmation from occurring," Kavanaugh wrote.

"I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process," he vowed in the letter.

Ramirez's allegation emerged not long after Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Kavanaugh of groping her during a high school party, came to terms with Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about her allegations on Thursday. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called for the "immediate postponement" of any further action on Kavanaugh's nomination after Ramirez came forward.

Here's what else happened Monday involving Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination:

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Kavanaugh says in Fox News interview

A portion of the interview was released Monday afternoon.

"I'm not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process," Kavanaugh, sitting next to his wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, said in the clip. Fox also quoted Brett Kavanaugh as saying: "What I know is the truth, and the truth is I've never sexually assaulted anyone."

The rest of the interview airs at 7 p.m. on Fox's The Story with Martha MacCallum.

McConnell calls sexual misconduct allegations ‘unsubstantiated;’ Ford says fear won’t stop her from testifying

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday questioned Ford's allegation and said Democrats were trying to destroy Kavanaugh's life.

Ford, meanwhile, sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) saying she had one motivation: "To tell the truth about what Mr. Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge did to me."

Avenatti reveals more details about mysterious new accuser

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, shared some details about a mysterious new victim he claimed could corroborate allegations involving Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, dating back to high school.

According to Avenatti, the woman has previously worked within the State Department, the U.S. Mint and the Department of Justice, and has been granted multiple security clearances in the past.

"The GOP and others better be very careful in trying to suggest that she is not credible," Avenatti wrote on Twitter.

Earlier on Monday, Avenatti said in an email to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had "significant evidence" involving Kavanaugh's participation in sexual misconduct while in high school.

In the email, which Avenatti posted on Twitter, the attorney claimed he has evidence that would show Kavanaugh, Judge and others purposely gave women alcohol and drugs "in order to allow a 'train' of men to subsequently gang rape them."

Avenatti told Politico that in addition to representing one victim, he also represents a group of individuals he claims can corroborate previously reported allegations of sexual misconduct involving Kavanaugh.

"She will testify," Avenatti said of the victim. "But before she does, she will likely appear on camera for an interview."

Maryland police say no new Kavanaugh accuser has come forward

The Montgomery County police department said on Monday that no one had approached the agency with new accusations against Kavanaugh, and it had received no information that would initiate a police report or a criminal investigation.

"We have no idea the sources of this information," J. Thomas Manger, the chief of police, told the Inquirer and Daily News regarding a report from the Montgomery County Sentinel. "To date, no one has come forward to report any allegations involving Judge Kavanaugh."

The report, written by Sentinel executive editor and Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem, claimed that investigators were looking into claims made by an anonymous witness who came forward this weekend, though the nature of the investigators remains unclear. Karem did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Who will question Ford on Thursday? Republicans have some ideas

Republicans are considering asking Kelly Ayotte, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, according to The Daily Beast. The news outlet reports:

Mindful of the optics of an all-male panel grilling an alleged sexual-assault victim, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have begun narrowing their search for an outside counsel to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser this week.
Playing the role of outside counsel would be a natural fit for Ayotte. The one-term senator, who lost her re-election bid in 2016, formerly served as the attorney general of New Hampshire from 2004 to 2009. She also has experience with Supreme Court confirmation fights, having shepherded Justice Neil Gorsuch's nomination through the upper chamber last year.

#MeToo founder holds rally in Philly to support Ford

Tarana Burke, the Philadelphia woman who started the #MeToo movement, held a walkout and moment of solidarity Monday in Delworth Plaza for survivors of sexual violence.

Burke and others, who gathered because of the attacks on Ford's character and credibility by some Kavanaugh supporters, are calling for sexual predators in positions of power to be held accountable.

Conservative columnist spreads false information about new accuser

John Fund, a prominent conservative columnist and a former member of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, apologized Monday morning for spreading false rumors against Kavanaugh's latest accuser.

Fund, currently a columnist for National Review, falsely claimed on Twitter that Ramirez had ties to billionaire George Soros, a progressive activist vilified by conservatives for his support of liberal causes. But it was a different Deborah Ramirez who received the 2003 Soros Justice Fellowship "to strengthen understanding between law enforcement and the Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities."

Ford was the target of widespread disinformation spread across social media when she came forward with accusations against Kavanaugh last week. The Drudge Report linked to negative teacher reviews about a different Christine Ford, while several prominent conservative commentators falsely claimed Kavanaugh's mother presided over the foreclosure of Ford's childhood home.

Trump calls allegations ‘totally political’

Speaking to reporters outside of the United Nations, President Trump called Kavanaugh an "outstanding person" and pledged to stand by his Supreme Court nominee, even as a second woman now accuses him of sexual misconduct.

"There's a chance this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate to anything," Trump told reporters. "For people to come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago and 30 years ago, and never mention it, all of the sudden it happens, in my opinion it's totally political."

Ronan Farrow: New accuser came forward because Democrats ‘came looking’

Ronan Farrow, who broke the story of Ramirez's allegations along with New Yorker chief Washington correspondent Jane Mayer, said during an interview on ABC Monday morning that Ramirez came forward now after being contacted by Senate Democrats.

"She came forward because Senate Democrats began looking at this claim. She did not flag this for those Democrats," Farrow told George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Monday. "This came to the attention of people on the hill independently, and it's really cornered her into an awkward position. She said, point-blank, I don't want to ruin anyone's life, but she feels this is a serious claim. She considers her own memories credible and she felt it was important that she tell her own story before others did for her."

During an interview on NBC's Today show, Mayer said it was emails from Kavanaugh's classmates at Yale — not Ramirez — that were the original source for their story.

"The story broke overnight, but it dates back 35 years… She didn't come forward with it," Mayer said. "What happened was, the classmates at Yale were talking to each other about it, they were emailing about it. We've seen the emails, back in July before Christine Blasey Ford came forward, and eventually the word of it spread. It spread to the senate. It spread to the media. And [the New Yorker] reached out to her."

Kellyanne Conway questions ‘so-called accuser’

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway dismissed Ramirez's allegations during an appearance on CBS News Monday morning, referring the her as a "so-called accuser."

"Indeed, this is starting to feel like a vast left wing conspiracy," Conway said, adding there is a "great deal of suspicion."

Conway claimed there was "a great deal of suspicion" about Ramirez's claims, pointing out that the New York Times, a frequent target of the Trump administration, reported it couldn't find anyone with firsthand knowledge to corroborate her allegations.