Kavanaugh Doesn’t ‘Remember’ If He Got Alex Kozinski Porn Emails

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old judge who has served on the federal district court in Washington, D.C., since 2006, served as a clerk in 1991 and 1992 for Ninth Circuit Court Judge Alex Kozinski, who resigned last December over allegations of sexual misconduct. On Wednesday, under questioning during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Donald Trump Supreme Court nominee attempted to distance himself from the disgraced former judge, and claimed that he did not “remember” receiving emails containing porn-related or other sexually explicit material from Kozinski. “When [Utah Republican Senator Orrin] Hatch asked if Kavanaugh had been on an email list Kozinski operated in which he sent sexually explicit and sexist jokes, including jokes about getting blow jobs from 19-year-olds and killing your wife, he responded, ‘I don’t remember anything like that, Senator,’” reported The Cut on Thursday.  As AVN.com reported in December, Kozinski faced accusations of sexual misconduct from six women, including allegations that he forced women who worked at the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco to view porn on his office computer, asking “Does this kind of thing turn you on?” One woman alleged that Kozinski groped her breast, and another said that the judge had pinched her thigh. Kozinski resigned over the allegations in December. Though Kavanaugh served as Kozinski’s clerk almost 30 years ago, the former Ninth Circuit Judge testfied for Kavanaugh at his 2006 confirmation hearings for his seat on the federal bench. During that testimony, Kozinski decsribed Kavanaugh as “my good friend.”  But despite the fact that Kozinski’s reputation for sexually inappropriate behavior was reportedly an “open secret” in the legal community, Kavanaugh claimed in his testimony that he was unaware of Kozinski’s behavior, saying that when he learned of the allegations it was “a gut punch, and I was shocked and disappointed and angry.” Kozinski’s email “gag list,” which contained off-color and “tasteless” material and which Kavanaugh claimed not to remember being on, came to light in 2008, according to The Los Angeles Times. The following year brought the revelations that Kozinski kept porn images on his office computer. But Kavanaugh did not say whether or not he had any recollection of those Kozinski incidents. “Kavanaugh’s backers have devoted considerable energy to feeding the storyline that he’s an enthusiastic supporter of women and girls," The Cut wrote. "So it’s no wonder, according to one Senate aide who was in a meeting with Kavanaugh ahead of his nomination hearings, that the nominee was downplaying his relationship with Kozinski, saying he wouldn’t characterize it as 'close.'" Photo by U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit