New Update In Criminal Referrals Made Against Those Who Made Questionable Claims Against Kavanaugh

Nine Senators have sent a letter to the FBI and the DOJ over four criminal referrals they made over a year ago. They are demanding to know why those referrals have not been acted upon since they obviously contained lies that the witnesses knew were lies. The Senators include  Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Kennedy (R-LA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). In their letter they recalled the referrals and what they were for, including two people who admitted that they lied.

From The Daily Wire

Dear Attorney General Barr and Director Wray:

A full year has passed since the Judiciary Committee completed its investigation into allegations of decades-old misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh in the course of its consideration of his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. During its investigation, the Committee interviewed numerous individuals claiming to have relevant information. While most of those individuals appear to have contacted the Committee in good faith, some did not. The Committee referred four individuals to the DOJ and FBI for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 (materially false statements) and 1505 (obstruction), for false statements made to the Committee during the course of its investigation. It also referred two of those same individuals for potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy). We seek information about what actions DOJ and FBI are taking in response to these referrals.

These criminal referrals were not made lightly. In each of the aforementioned cases, the referred individual(s) made false allegations against then-Judge Kavanaugh. These allegations were taken seriously and carefully investigated by Committee staff, resulting in the diversion of significant resources.

1. The first referral, dated September 29, 2018, relates to a false allegation made by an individual who told the Committee that he had direct knowledge that Judge Kavanaugh assaulted a close friend on a boat in the harbor at Newport, Rhode Island in 1985. [1] After the Committee extensively questioned Judge Kavanaugh about the allegation, the individual recanted and apologized on social media for making the false allegation.

2. The second referral, dated October 25, 2018, relates to false allegations made by Mr. Michael Avenatti and his client, Ms. Julie Swetnick.[2] In a September 23, 2018, email to Committee staff, Mr. Avenatti stated that he and Ms. Swetnick were aware of evidence that during the 1980s, Judge Kavanaugh participated in the “targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them.”[3] Committee staff interviewed Judge Kavanaugh and ten other individuals in connection with these allegations, which were outlined in graphic detail in a sworn statement to the Committee purportedly written and signed by Ms. Swetnick. After a thorough investigation, the Committee found no verifiable evidence to support any of the allegations made in the declaration. The Committee also found that both Mr. Avenatti and Ms. Swetnick had a long history of credibility issues and may have criminally conspired to mislead the Committee and obstruct its investigation.

3. The third referral, dated October 26, 2018, relates to evidence that Mr. Avenatti falsified a sworn statement to the Committee in order to provide support for Ms. Swetnick’s unfounded allegations.[4] The sworn statement by an unknown declarant claimed that Judge Kavanaugh had spiked the punch at house parties with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol in order to make “girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less likely to say ‘No.’”[5] NBC News later reported on a series of contacts with the purported declarant, who stated that she had denied the key allegations in the declaration both before and after the statement was publicly released and that Mr. Avenatti had “twisted [her] words.”[6]

4. The fourth referral, dated November 2, 2018, relates to allegations made by Ms. Judy Munro-Leighton.[7] On October 3, 2018, Committee staff received an email from Ms. Munro-Leighton stating that she was the author of an unsigned letter containing highly graphic sexual-assault accusations against Judge Kavanaugh previously received by the office of Senator Kamala Harris. Ms. Munro-Leighton included the text of the letter in her e-mail to the Committee, claiming that Judge Kavanaugh and a friend had raped her “several times each” in the back seat of a car.[8] When Committee staff interviewed Ms. Munro-Leighton, she admitted that she falsely identified herself as the author of the letter and its allegations and had only claimed authorship “as a way to grab attention.”[9] When asked by Committee investigators if she had ever met Judge Kavanaugh, she said: “Oh Lord, no.”[10]