Two people who signed onto a statement sowing doubt about the New Yorker’s recent report of a second allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh withdrew their names from that statement on Monday, emphasizing that they were “not present” when the alleged incident occurred and therefore “cannot dispute” allegations from Deborah Ramirez.
Ramirez, in the New Yorker’s words, alleges that Kavanaugh “exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.”
Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, the former of whom starred in a recent Judicial Crisis Network ad supporting Kavanaugh (pictured above), initially signed onto a statement printed in the New Yorker report asserting that, as “the people closest to Brett Kavanaugh during his first year at Yale […] we would have seen or heard about [the alleged assault]—and we did not.” Ramirez, the statement added, “never described this incident” until this year.
The New Yorker said in an update Monday that the statement had been “provided by [Kavanaugh’s] attorneys.”
The New Yorker subsequently removed Garry and Ewing’s names from the statement, adding:
(Two students who initially signed the statement, Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, approached The New Yorker after the publication of this article and asked that their names be removed from it. “I never saw or heard anything like this,” Garry said. “But I cannot dispute Ramirez’s allegations, as I was not present.” Ewing also said he had no direct knowledge of the allegation and considered it out of character for Kavanaugh, but emphasized, “I also was not present and therefore am not in a position to directly dispute Ramirez’s account.”)
And a note at the end of the piece now reads:
This story was updated with comments from two former classmates of Kavanaugh, Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, who initially signed a statement of support for Kavanaugh provided by his attorneys. They approached The New Yorker after this story was published and asked that their names be removed from the statement, saying that they did not wish to dispute Ramirez’s claims.
