Third Kavanaugh accuser steps forward

A third woman stepped forward Wednesday through her attorney to lodge allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, accusing him and a friend of attending house parties where women – including herself – were sexually assaulted.

She specifically accuses Kavanaugh of spiking drinks with drugs to “target particular girls so they could be taken advantage of.”

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The woman, identified by her attorney, Michael Avenatti as Julie Swetnick, does not accuse Kavanaugh himself of sexually assaulting her in the affidavit. But she wrote that she witnessed him on several occasions “drink excessively and engage in highly inappropriate conduct, including being overly aggressive with girls and not taking ‘No’ for an answer. This conduct included the fondling and grabbing of girls without their consent.”

In the affidavit, Swetnick asserts Kavanaugh was present when she was the victim of a “gang rape” by multiple boys at one party. And she refers to Kavanaugh “a mean drunk” whom she witnessed acting “verbally abusive toward girls, including pressing girls against him without their consent,“ and “Grinding against girls and attempting to remove or shift girls’ clothing to expose private body parts.”

Swetnick is prepared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Avenatti said, but he charged that the committee had failed to respond to that offer or his offer that Swetnick submit to polygraph testing.

On Wednesday, the committee acknowledged receiving Avenatti’s declaration and a spokesperson said lawyers were reviewing it.

The revelation of his client’s identity came after Avenatti, a hard-charging anti-Trump agitator, was accused in a viral Internet post of actually representing a fraud after being duped by a third party. Since Avenatti first made overtures about representing a Kavanaugh accuser, he said he was the subject of online threats and on Tuesday locked his Twitter account.

Avenatti depicted the episode as an intimidation attempt.

“Here’s my message to Donald Trump, Sen. Grassley, Sen. McConnell and their surrogates: you better be very very careful before you launch some smear campaign against my client who is 100 percent credible,” Avenatti told POLITICO. “Because if you do, I will do everything in my power to expose you for the fraud that you are.”

Avenatti posted on Twitter a photo of his client and her affidavit, and says she is a former government worker who still holds certain security clearances.

Avenatti posted on Twitter a photo of his client and her affidavit, and says she is a former government worker who still holds certain security clearances.

Asked if she would step forward publicly on Wednesday and submit to a media interview, Avenatti told POLITICO: “We’re going to wait and see how the day progresses.”

Avenatti previously told POLITICO he offered her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee but was rebuffed and added that his client would make her allegations public even if the committee did not allow for her testimony.

“She is courageous, brave and honest. We ask that her privacy and that of her family be respected,” Avenatti wrote over Twitter.