President Donald Trump on Monday seized upon an editors’ note The New York Times appended to a weekend report that detailed a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, again accusing the news media of acting as a “partner” to the Democratic Party.
“‘The New York Times walks back report on Kavanaugh assault claim.
’ @foxandfriends,” Trump tweeted, parroting coverage of the incident by his favorite morning cable news program.“The one who is actually being assaulted is Justice Kavanaugh - Assaulted by lies and Fake News!” he continued. “This is all about the LameStream Media working with their partner, the Dems.”
The Times on Saturday published an essay, adapted from a forthcoming book on Kavanaugh authored by two of the paper’s reporters, which revealed a previously unreported episode of alleged sexual impropriety by the justice while he was a student at Yale University in the 1980s.
Max Stier, one of Kavanaugh’s classmates, allegedly saw him “with his pants down” at an alcohol-fueled dormitory party, “where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student,” the Times reported.
Stier, who is now the president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service in Washington, reportedly told U.S. senators and FBI officials about the incident, which the FBI did not investigate, the Times said.
The revelation provoked outrage among national Democrats and calls from several of the party’s presidential candidates to launch impeachment proceedings against Kavanaugh, who was narrowly confirmed to the high court in October 2018 despite testimony by Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually attacked her at a high school party.
But the Times on Sunday appended a note to the essay clarifying that the female student referenced by Stier declined to be interviewed, and her friends say she does not recall the incident.
That additional information, which was reported in the book from which the essay was adapted, fueled fresh outrage among Kavanaugh’s defenders, including the president.
Trump tweeted twice more about the report on Monday morning, quoting conservative commentator and Fox News contributor Dan Bongino, and later lashing out with his own admonishment of the Times.
“DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE WILL DO OR SAY,” he wrote online. “They are looking to destroy, and influence his opinions - but played the game badly. They should be sued!”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine