Brett Kavanaugh ‘lied to Senate over drunken behaviour at Yale’

The US Supreme Court nominee has been criticised by an ex-classmate for not telling the truth about “frequent, heavy” drinking.

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Picture: AP

US President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee has been criticised by a former university classmate for not telling the truth about “frequent and heavy” drinking amid a row over the scope of an FBI investigation into him.

Brett Kavanaugh was “belligerent and aggressive” while drunk and should face consequences for misleading the Senate judiciary committee last Thursday, according to Charles Ludington, a friend of his at Yale.

The claim came as Rachel Mitchell, a prosecutor hired by Republicans to question Mr Kavanaugh during the committee, said the allegation of sexual assault in 1982 by Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor, was not sufficiently detailed to merit charges.

Democrats have accused the Republicans of limiting an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Mr Kavanaugh, 53, which was the price demanded by a key senator for his committee vote in favour of the judge.

US President Donald Trump. Picture: AP

The FBI has up to a week to look into the claims before a final Senate vote that could be held as soon as Friday. If confirmed to the lifetime post Mr Kavanaugh would tip the balance of the court decisively to the right, in line with Mr Trump’s campaign promise to fill vacancies with social conservatives.

“I have become deeply troubled by what has been a blatant mischaracterisation by Brett himself of his drinking at Yale,” said Mr Ludington. “On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer . . . I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail,” he added.

A protester holds a sign in opposition to Judge Brett Kavanaugh at a rally at City Hall in Boston. Picture: AP

Mr Ludington is the second Yale alumnus to contradict Mr Kavanaugh’s account of himself as a more self-controlled drinker after James Roche, his first-year roommate, said last week that he had frequently seen him “incoherently drunk”. This was a line of questioning that Mr Kavanaugh rejected or avoided, at one point turning on a Democratic senator to ask if she ever blacked out while drunk.

Mr Ludington added: “I have direct and repeated knowledge about his drinking and his disposition while drunk. And I do believe that Brett’s actions as a 53-year-old federal judge matter. If he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences . . . I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking, and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth.”

Mr Kavanaugh denies allegations of sexual misconduct made by Ms Ford and two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. Ms Ramirez said that Mr Kavanaugh thrust his genitals in her face during a drinking game at Yale.

President Trump said he was “surprised how vocal” Mr Kavanaugh was in his testimony about liking beer and said some of the Democratic senators questioning him were “no angels”.

“I watched those senators on the Democrat side and thought it was a disgrace partially because I know them too well, and you know what, they are not angels,’ Mr Trump said at a press conference.

“My White House will do whatever the senators want . . . The one thing I want is speed,” he added. “The FBI should interview everybody they want within reason.”

The Times