File:2018 09 23 statement about Mark Judge by US Senate Judiciary Committee.png

English: WASHINGTON – For the last week, the Judiciary Committee has been investigating Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a house party while in high school approximately 36 years ago.

Dr. Ford first alerted the Ranking Member of her allegations in a letter dated July 30, 2018. The Ranking Member did not disclose the existence of this letter to the Committee or the FBI until September 13, 2018—after Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing and a full six weeks after she first received them.

The Committee became aware of the substance of the allegations in media reports the next day. The Committee also learned from press reports that the person raising the allegations also claimed that Mr. Mark Judge had been in the room when the incident allegedly took place. Mr. Judge denied those allegations in interviews with the press. Judge Kavanaugh similarly denied the allegations in a written statement.

The Committee learned of Dr. Ford’s identity in a Washington Post article on September 16, 2018. The Washington Post article reiterated the claim that Judge Kavanaugh and Mr. Judge were both in the room when the alleged incident took place. We also learned that Dr. Ford alleged that “there were four boys at the party” and that her therapist’s notes referenced in the article also stated that there were four boys at the party (and in the room where the assault took place). Dr. Ford also “named two other teenagers who she said were at the party” in addition to Judge Kavanaugh and Mr. Judge. The article claimed that those two other individuals did not respond to the Post’s inquiries.

The Committee did not learn of the actual contents of the letter until CNN published a redacted version of the letter on September 17. We do not know who leaked this letter to the press, notwithstanding Dr. Ford’s request for confidentiality. Despite revelations of Dr. Ford’s identity, the Ranking Member and Dr. Ford’s attorneys to date still have not publicly released a copy of the original version of the letter or shared it more broadly than the 21 members and senior staff of the Judiciary Committee. The Chairman has repeatedly called for the public release of this hidden evidence.

In the course of the Committee’s investigation, it also learned the identities of the four other individuals Dr. Ford claimed were at the party when the incident took place. They were not, however, all boys, as Dr. Ford apparently told her therapist and the Washington Post. The four individuals Dr. Ford claimed attended the party were Judge Kavanaugh, Mr. Judge, Mr. Patrick J. Smyth, and Ms. Leland Ingham Keyser. The Committee reached out to each person and asked for the opportunity to conduct a confidential interview.