Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Report: New woman comes out against Kavanaugh
02:59 - Source: CNN
Washington CNN  — 

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, responding to the latest allegation of inappropriate sexual behavior against Brett Kavanaugh, suggested Monday that “it’s starting to feel like a vast left-wing conspiracy” against the embattled Supreme Court nominee.

“He’s now calling this a smear campaign,” she said on “CBS This Morning.” “Indeed, it’s starting to feel like a vast left-wing conspiracy.”

The New Yorker reported Sunday that Deborah Ramirez, 53, attended Yale with Kavanaugh and said she remembers Kavanaugh exposing himself to her at a dormitory party. Both the White House and Kavanaugh quickly denied the allegation.

Conway on Monday took aim at the magazine’s report.

“The New York Times said they interviewed dozens of people over the last couple weeks trying to verify the second accusation, and they couldn’t go forward with the reporting,” she said. “Not because they’re supportive of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, but because they have some standards.”

A classmate of Ramirez’s, who was not at the party and who declined to be identified, told the magazine he is “one hundred per cent sure” that either on the night of the party or in the next day or two he was told Kavanaugh was the student who exposed himself to Ramirez.

The classmate independently recalled many of the same details Ramirez told The New Yorker about the incident. The magazine said many of the people they contacted did not respond to interview requests, others declined to comment or said they did not attend or remember the party.

One classmate who Ramirez said egged on Kavanaugh denied any memory of the party, according to the magazine.

Conway said she has “no idea” if Ramirez made up her accusation.

“What I believe is what I read,” she said. “Which is that she has said she can’t be sure. She has said there are gaps in her own knowledge, that she was – she was inebriated as well. But she can come and tell that story.”

Conway also expressed resentment at how the #MeToo movement is influencing Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“And I personally am very aggrieved for all of them,” she said of women who have accused men in recent months of sexual misconduct. “But are we going to put decades of pent-up demand for women to feel whole on one man’s shoulders?”

Kavanaugh and the White House vigorously denied the allegation detailed in The New Yorker Sunday night.

Kavanaugh said in a statement, “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name – and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building – against these last-minute allegations.”

White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement, “This 35-year-old, uncorroborated claim is the latest in a coordinated smear campaign by the Democrats designed to tear down a good man. This claim is denied by all who were said to be present and is wholly inconsistent with what many women and men who knew Judge Kavanaugh at the time in college say. The White House stands firmly behind Judge Kavanaugh.”

CNN’s Kate Sullivan and Manu Raju contributed to this report.