The fallout from the Kavanaugh smear continues with some on the left doubling down on the smears regarding Justice Kavanaugh drugging and organizing rape trains of teenagers and with others backing off. This is all a result of Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s 29 page letter referring Trump-hater lawyer Michael Avenatti and his “witness” Julie Swetnick to the FBI for criminal investigation for providing false statements, obstructing investigations, and conspiracy during Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Yesterday, NBC did a mea culpa claiming that they had been deceived by Avenatti:
Was this an intentional attempt to mislead our reporters? Evidence points that way... https://t.co/MOxE8WiGK4
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) October 26, 2018
The problems with Swetnick’s statement are legion and well-documented. They are even contradicted by Swetnick herself. One example is here. But what is interesting is NBC News had very strong indications they needed to back away from any allegation from Michael Avenatt at the time NBC was making them public that they shoes to ignore (emphasis added):
According to the second woman's declaration that Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, she said: "During the years 1981-82, I witnessed firsthand Brett Kavanaugh, together with others, 'spike' the 'punch' at house parties I attended with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol. I understood this was being done for the purpose of making girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less likely to say 'No.'" . . .
But reached by phone independently from Avenatti on Oct. 3, the woman said she only "skimmed" the declaration. After reviewing the statement, she wrote in a text on Oct. 4 to NBC News: "It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch. I didn't see anyone spike the punch...I was very clear with Michael Avenatti from day one."
When pressed about abusive behavior towards girls, she wrote in a text: "I would not ever allow anyone to be abusive in my presence. Male or female."
Shortly after tweeting out the woman's allegations on Oct. 2, Avenatti confirmed to NBC News that it was the same woman interviewed by phone on Sept. 30. But when questioned on Oct. 3 about the discrepancies between what she said in the phone interview and the serious allegations in the sworn declaration, Avenatti said he was "disgusted" with NBC News. At one point, in an apparent effort to thwart the reporting process, he added in the phone call, "How about this, on background, it's not the same woman. What are you going to do with that?"
In other words, when the accuser did not agree with the story that Avenatti was peddling he immediately offered to fabricate another source. Yet, NBC still put Avenatti on the air. As Phil Kerpen points out:
Yes and NBC knew but played along anyway. For the cause. https://t.co/vCxYmEajqM
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 26, 2018
Even if we disagree with NBC on their likely motive, at least NBC deserves some credit for now admitting the report was false. This is in contrast to the abortion lobby which is still standing behind Swetnick:
We still believe Julie Swetnick. #BelieveSurvivors https://t.co/i8nlQzzJwx
— NARAL (@NARAL) October 25, 2018
This shows the true reason for the smear of Kavanaugh. It was all about abortion, the truth and Kavanaugh be damned.