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Have We Noticed That Brett Kavanaugh (And Friends) Do Not Deny Knowing Christine Blasey Ford?

If they didn't go to "that" party, then what party did they meet her at? These are the questions an investigation would reveal.

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(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Patrick J. Smyth self-identified today as one of the other boys at the party where Dr. Christine Blasey Ford alleges Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her. In his statement, Smyth claims that he was not at the party Dr. Ford describes.

“I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh.

“Personally speaking, I have known Brett Kavanaugh since high school and I know him to be a person of great integrity, a great friend, and I have never witnessed any improper conduct by Brett Kavanaugh towards women,” he continued.

“To safeguard my own privacy and anonymity, I respectfully request that the Committee accept this statement in response to any inquiry the Committee may have.”

His denial tracks with what Mark Judge, the person Dr. Ford alleges was in the room with Kavanaugh, has now said.

“In fact, I have no memory of the alleged incident,” Judge said in a statement via his lawyer. “Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school but I do not recall the party described in Dr. Ford’s letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner that Dr. Ford describes.”

And of course there is Brett Kavanaugh himself, strongly denying the allegations:

In a statement to Fox News, Hatch’s office said that Kavanaugh told the senator “he was not at a party like the one [Ford] describes” and added that Ford “may be mistaking [Kavanaugh] for someone else.”

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Have you noticed the one thing missing from those blanket denials? An accounting of where and under what circumstances the boys met Christine Blasey Ford. None of the men deny knowing Ford when they were boys. They’re just unwilling to describe the circumstances under which they knew her.

Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, and Patrick Smyth went to an all-boys prep school. They did not meet Christine Blasey Ford in biology class. They did not hang out with her during free period.

If all three of them met her, and they don’t deny meeting her, it was almost certainly at something the scientists would call “a party.” A pool party, a beach party, a birthday party, a post-prom after party, SOME KIND OF PARTY.

Ford, in her interview with the Washington Post, says that she knew Kavanaugh and Judge as “friendly acquaintances.” That sounds to me like the kind of people you keep bumping into at… parties. Everybody has those acquaintances they make because your social networks are intertwined, but are not a perfect overlap. In high school, you’re going to run into your buddy’s girlfriend girlfriends a ton of times over the years, almost exclusively at parties.

Kavanaugh, Judge, and Smyth are saying that they don’t remember a party “like” the one Ford described. All these Kavanaugh defenders are suggesting Ford is a liar because she doesn’t remember the exact date of “the party in question.” But nobody is holding Kavanaugh & Crew’s feet to the fire over the parties they attended where they met Ford.

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As with the other holes in Kavanaugh’s credibility, his categorical denial doesn’t actually make a lot of sense, if you just THINK about it. Kavanaugh says he wasn’t at that party, but he’s not been forthcoming about the parties he was at, where he did meet Ford. Are we to believe that Ford can recall a party where Kavanaugh was present, but Kavanaugh cannot recall any party where Ford was present… and yet he’s sure that he was not at the party Ford is talking about? And Judge and Smyth can’t remember any parties but they knew Ford from… WHERE?

There was no Facebook back then. If you went to an all-boys school and you wanted to meet girls, YOU KINDA HAD TO GO TO A PARTY.

To the people being willfully obtuse about the situation, THESE ARE THE THINGS the F.B.I. can investigate, if Donald Trump orders them to. THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS the Senate Judiciary Committee should ask Judge and Smyth, if they can be bothered to subpoena their testimony. “You didn’t meet Christine Blasey Ford at the party she described? Okay, what party did you meet her at? Who else was there? How can you be sure the party that she is talking about is not the party that you are talking about?”

Christ, Kavanaugh defenders. Stop being so obtuse. These men are not being forthcoming with what they know. All of them need to be put under oath and asked about it, preferably by trained investigators who know how to ask the right questions.

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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