Michael Avenatti Scoffs at Claim He Caused Kavanaugh Confirmation

Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed and sworn in as the newest justice of the United States Supreme Court on Saturday, despite a series of sexual assault allegations against him, and in the aftermath of the debacle some Democrats have been looking for someone to blame. And they seem to have found that someone in Michael Avenatti. Avenatti, the lawyer best known for representing AVN Hall of Famer in her legal battles with Trump, came forward in late September with a client, Julie Swetnick, who alleged that Kavanaugh attended parties at which women—including Swetnick herself—were raped by multiple teenage boys after being incapacitated with “spiked” beverages. In her speech on Friday announcing that she would vote to support Kavanaugh, Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins called Swetnick’s claim an “outlandish allegation was put forth without any credible supporting evidence,” though as Avenatti himself responded, Collins had “no facts or evidence” regarding Swetnick’s claims. In fact, as CNN reported, the FBI never interviewed Swetnick or Avenatti, who said that he would provide witnesses to corroborate her version of events. But Collins' mention of the Swetnick allegations apparently gave some Democrats a green light to single out Avenatti as, if not the reason, at least one of the reasons that attempts to stop the Kavanaugh confirmation failed. "It wasn't helpful because the story became about Avenatti," one Democratic senator, not named by CNN,  told CNN correspondent Manu Raj. “A host of Democratic senators and senior aides told CNN that the allegations from Avenatti's client gave the GOP an opening to conflate—and dismiss—all the allegations in one broad brush,” Raj wrote. But Avenatti wasn’t buying, and questioned whether Democrats were sincere in their stated desire from sexual assault victims to reveal their stories publicly. "It is outrageous that these so-called Democrats would attack a sexual assault victim from coming forward," Avenatti told Raj. "I guess their position is that she should have shut her mouth and remained silent? It is disgusting that these cowards blame my client and the other accusers from coming forward." Avenatti also took to his Twitter account to lambaste Democrats who attacked Swetnick and Deborah Ramirez—who alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as an undergrad at Yale University—as “disgusting and offensive.” “People that are attacking Ms. Ramirez and Ms. Swetnick for coming forward should be ashamed. They claim these women should have “shut up” and stayed quiet,” Avenatti wrote. “Apparently assault victims are to blame for the vote. This line of thinking is disgusting & offensive to all survivors.” Avenatti also cited an interview by Collins on CNN, in which the 65-year-old Maine Republican said that not only did she dismiss Swetnick’s allegations, she also did not believe Kavanaugh’s first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who said that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when he was 17 and she was 15. “In other words, Senator Collins did not believe ANY of the accusers as it relates to Brett Kavanaugh’s conduct,” Avenatti wrote. “This is outrageous—they were not all lying. This should also put an end to the nonsense of blaming me and my client for the outcome.” Photo by Luke Harold / Wikimedia Commons