GOP Senator: Second Kavanaugh Accuser Refuses to Respond to Congress

Update 9:25 pm: Ramirez’s lawyer, John Clune, claimed that the Judiciary Committee “refused to meet all scheduled appointments” with Ramirez and her attorneys.

A Republican senator said Tuesday that the second woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct is refusing to speak to Congress.

An attorney for Deborah Ramirez, who alleges the Supreme Court nominee exposed himself to her at an alcohol-fueled party during their freshman year at Yale University in the early 1980s, said Ramirez will not speak to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the allegation, according to Senator John Kennedy, who sits on the committee.

“Our counsel repeatedly tried to reach him,” Kennedy said Tuesday, referring to Ramirez’s lawyer. “They finally did reach him, and he said, ‘We are not issuing a statement.’ He said, ‘If you want our statement, read The New Yorker.'”

Ramirez’s allegation emerged Sunday in a New Yorker report that further complicated an already-difficult confirmation process. Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, both critical swing votes on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, have said Ramirez should speak more publicly about her claims. Democrats and Ramirez, meanwhile, have both insisted that the FBI should investigate the alleged incident first.

Christine Blasey Ford, whose sexual-assault allegation against Kavanaugh first threw his confirmation into doubt, is scheduled to testify to the Judiciary Committee on Thursday about her claim that he drunkenly pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothing at a party when they were both in high school. But Ford’s lawyers have objected to the Committee’s decision to hire an outside counsel with experience prosecuting sex crimes to ask questions in place of senators, arguing that the hearing is not a criminal trial, and throwing her appearance into doubt.

Republicans are hoping to move swiftly to confirm Kavanaugh after Ford testifies.