Political News

Avenatti: Senate committee says it wants to meet with new Kavanaugh accuser

Michael Avenatti said the Senate Judiciary Committee has expressed interest in interviewing his client Julie Swetnick, who has leveled a series of allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Posted Updated

By
Eli Watkins
, CNN
(CNN) — Michael Avenatti said the Senate Judiciary Committee has expressed interest in interviewing his client Julie Swetnick, who has leveled a series of allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Avenatti, making his comments on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," said committee staffers "refused to get back" to them after his initial contact with staff members. He added Swetnick would be willing to testify before the Senate after the FBI conducted a full investigation.

"It was only within the last couple hours that they finally got back to us and said that they want to meet with my client," Avenatti said.

He added, "The FBI should be brought in to do a proper investigation, interview all of the witnesses, all of the accusers. They should interview Brett Kavanaugh, and then they should present those findings to the Senate Judiciary Committee and they should be made public, so that ultimately we can get to the truth."

Swetnick made the series of allegations against Kavanaugh in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Avenatti released on Wednesday, accusing him of sexually aggressive behavior at alcohol-fueled parties when he was in high school.

Swetnick also said that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present at a party where she was drugged and "gang raped." Swetnick did not identify Kavanaugh or Judge as her attacker in that incident.

She said in her statement that there are two witnesses who can attest to her account, but she has not identified them publicly.

Kavanaugh denied her allegations in a statement released by the White House.

"This ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don't know who this is and this never happened," Kavanaugh's statement said.

Kavnaugh attorney Beth Wilkinson told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wednesday afternoon that Kavanaugh was outraged and that there was "no excuse" for Avenatti not to have gone directly to law enforcement with Swetnick's allegations.

President Donald Trump has stood by Kavanaugh as women have come forward with allegations against his Supreme Court pick.

Avenatti has drawn national attention for his representation of Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who said Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen orchestrated a hush money payment to her in exchange for silence about an alleged affair she had with Trump. The President has denied the affair took place, and Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court last month on eight counts and implicated Trump in hush money schemes.

In a tweet after Avenatti released Swetnick's statement, Trump blasted Avenatti, alluding to his work for Daniels.

"Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn't want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!" Trump tweeted.

Copyright 2024 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.