https://www.elle.com/culture/career-...-yale-hearing/
All the Times Brett Kavanaugh Lied During His Hearing
Madison Feller
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh participated in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday where he answered—and avoided—questions about sexual assault allegations, drank a lot of water, and was generally angry, combative, and upset.
And throughout his hours under oath, it seems Kavanaugh might have also bent the truth a few times. Here, a guide to some of the more questionable moments from Kavanaugh's testimony.
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His Drinking Habits
According to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when the two were in high school, Kavanaugh had been "heavily intoxicated" at the party where the alleged assault took place. Kavanaugh's two other public accusers, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, also mentioned Kavanaugh's drinking habits, alluding to the idea that he either had a habit of drinking heavily or had harassed someone while under the influence of alcohol.
During the testimony, senators asked Kavanaugh about his drinking, and in one unforgettable moment, Senator Amy Klobuchar asked him if he had ever blacked out from alcohol, to which he responded, "I don’t know. Have you?" (He later apologized for the comeback.) Kavanaugh did say he enjoyed beer but that he didn't black out.
However, in a recent report from the New York Times, Kavanaugh's former Yale University classmate, Chad Ludington, stated, "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." Ludington explained that the two often drank together during their first two years of college and, throughout that time, he knew Kavanaugh to be a frequent and heavy drinker.
He also stated: "On many occasions I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption, not all of which was beer. When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive. On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, 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."
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According to The Intercept, Kavanaugh also testified that drinking was "legal for seniors," even though in the summer of 1982, when the alleged assault occurred, he was not yet 18, the legal drinking age at the time. By the time he did turn 18, the drinking age was raised to 21.
Kavanaugh also told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his high school friend Mark Judge's memoir Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk was fictionalized, though the book itself reportedly says it's "based on actual experiences."
In the book, Judge seems to mention Kavanaugh, as there's someone referred to as "Bart O’Kavanaugh," who's described in the book as being drunk, vomiting, and passing out.
His Yearbook
Kavanaugh was also asked about a number of terms from his high school yearbook page, including "Devil's Triangle," "boof," "ralph," and "Renate Alumnius."
He claims that the first is a drinking game similar to Quarters, though most people would tell you it's a sex act involving a woman and two men. He also said "boof" means flatulence, though I'll let you read that Urban Dictionary entry for yourself.
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As for "Renate Alumnius," Kavanaugh was adamant that the phrase was meant to show his friendship with classmate Renate Schroeder Dolphin, instead of, as most people understood it to be, a reference to her sexual history. Dolphin spoke to the New York Times about the yearbook entry before the hearing, saying,"I don’t know what 'Renate Alumnus' actually means. I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way."
The Times also reported that Kavanaugh’s former schoolmates said the phrase was a reference to "sexual conquests."
The Witnesses
Repeatedly throughout the hearing, Kavanaugh claimed that four of the people Ford says were at the party where she was assaulted have testified that the assault didn't happen. Those witnesses include Judge, who Ford says was in the room when the assault took place, Patrick J. Smyth, Leland Keyser, and another unnamed boy. Ford says Smyth, Keyser, and the unnamed boy were downstairs when she was attacked in an upstairs bedroom.
In reality, Smyth and Keyser have simply said they don't remember the party or they don't know about the assault. Only Judge seems to flatly deny the assault, as he stated he doesn't remember the incident and "never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes." Keyser has since said she believes Ford's allegations.
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His Yale Pedigree
Kavanaugh also enjoyed bringing up his Yale education multiple times during the hearing, once saying, "I have no connections there. I got there by busting my tail." But according to The Intercept, Kavanaugh's grandfather, Everett Edward Kavanaugh, also went to Yale for undergrad.
The Allegations
At the hearing, Kavanaugh was asked when he first heard about the sexual harassment allegations from Deborah Ramirez, who alleges Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party while the two were at Yale. He responded by saying,"In the last—in the period since then, the New Yorker story," referencing the New Yorker piece that first publicized the allegations.
However, according to a new report from NBC News, Kavanaugh and his team were trying to get former classmates to discredit Ramirez's claims before the piece was ever published, leading many to believe that Kavanaugh did know about the allegations beforehand.
The face of a liar
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