2 of Brett Kavanaugh's former Yale classmates took their names off a statement denying Deborah Ramirez's sexual misconduct allegation
- Two of Brett Kavanaugh's former college classmates removed their names from a statement defending the Supreme Court nominee that appeared alongside a sexual misconduct allegation in a story by The New Yorker.
- Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing specified they knew nothing of the incident, and couldn't rebuke Deborah Ramirez's allegation that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party in the 1980s.
- Four students kept their names on the statement, which Kavanaugh's lawyer prepared.
- Kavanaugh rebuked the "last-minute allegations" as "smear, plain and simple."
- One of the reporters, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer, said the story first came from emails among other Yale alumni, not Ramirez.
Two of Brett Kavanaugh's former college classmates asked for their names to be removed from a statement disputing sexual assault allegations from a fellow Yale University alumnus against the Supreme Court nominee.
In a report published Sunday by The New Yorker, Deborah Ramirez said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a dorm-room party during the 1983-84 school year, when they were freshmen. Several of Ramirez's and Kavanaugh's former classmates provided accounts that ranged from corroboration to vague or no memory of a similar incident.
Six classmates signed their names to a statement Kavanaugh's lawyer provided that disputed the allegation.
But a day after the story was published, Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing asked that their names be removed.
"I never saw or heard anything like this," Garry told The New Yorker, according to an editorial note added Monday. "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."
The statement also included two male students who Ramirez identified as involved in the incident, and the wife of another who Ramirez said was present when Kavanaugh allegedly exposed himself and someone told her to "kiss it."
Kavanaugh flatly denied the allegation in a statement released after the report, calling Ramirez's account a "smear, plain and simple," and declaring he would fight back against "these last-minute allegations."
New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer said Monday she and fellow story author Ronan Farrow discovered Ramirez's story in a series of emails among Yale alumni in July, months before Kavanaugh's confirmation process.
"The story broke overnight, but it dates back 35 years," Mayer told NBC News' Savannah Guthrie. "The classmates at Yale were talking to each other about it, they were emailing about it. We've seen the emails, back in July before Christine Blasey Ford came forward, and eventually word of it spread. It spread to the Senate. It spread to the media. And we reached out to her."
Kavanaugh is facing at least one other sexual misconduct accusation from 51-year-old professor Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party when the two were in high school.
The White House has repeatedly defended Kavanaugh against allegations of sexual misconduct.
Trump lashed out at Ramirez on Tuesday, calling her a "mess" and "totally inebriated" during the alleged incident, which he accused Democrats of using as a "con game."
As Kavanaugh took to Fox News on Monday to speak out on the accusations, and Yale alumni come forward to rebuke his denials, congressional lawmakers are split on how to proceed.