New York Post editorial: Kavanaugh's new 'accuser' looks like one more Michael Avenatti publicity stunt

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Avenatti releases name, photo of third Kavanaugh accuser

Julie Swetnick is the third woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

Michael Avenatti tossed another wrench into the Brett Kavanaugh nomination Wednesday, releasing Julie Swetnick’s sworn statement that seems to accuse the judge of participating in gang rapes during his high school years.

Emphasis on seems: She claims she was gang-raped, but not by Kavanaugh. She makes vague allegations that he engaged in other misconduct, but with no specifics on the victims, the conduct or the when and where.

For example, saying she “became aware” of Kavanaugh’s efforts to spike the punch at parties is different from saying she saw them — she won’t even say the “efforts” succeeded.

Avenatti won’t fill in any of the specifics. And the statement is not an affidavit, nor has he made his client available to even friendly reporters.

Yes, Julie Swetnick is a professional who has held security clearances. But why would she pick Avenatti as her lawyer?

He’s not remotely a specialist in abuse cases. He’s a politically charged, bomb-throwing publicity hound.

Indeed, he spent days advertising the statement before he actually dropped it — the day before Christine Blasey Ford is to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Was that serving his client’s best interests, or just maximizing the chaos?

Questions abound. Swetnick is two years older than Kavanaugh, and went off to college in 1980 after graduating high school. Why was she still going to high school parties? Especially ones featuring repeated gang rapes?

Her statement suggests that dozens of people were involved, with multiple victims, perps and bystanders. Yet none of it has come out in the course of four decades.

Kavanaugh not only denies all of it — and will do so under oath — he’s already been through six different FBI background checks. The feds missed something this big every time? As did the legions of reporters and activists who’ve been investigating his background for months now?

Unless and until Swetnick is willing to make actual concrete claims, and supply the witnesses she claims will back her up, you have to see this as nothing more than yet another Michael Avenatti publicity stunt.