WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Friday "categorically" denied an allegation of potential sexual misconduct when he was in high school that has roiled the final days of a confirmation fight in the Senate.
The statement from Kavanaugh was his first response to news reports about a potential episode of sexual misconduct when he was in high school.
"I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation," Kavanaugh, now 53, said Friday in a statement distributed through the White House. "I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the committee, released a cryptic and vague statement Thursday saying she had referred "information" about Kavanaugh to federal authorities. She did not detail the material she had, citing confidentiality concerns.
That information came via a letter that first arrived on Capitol Hill in July, initially to the office of Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. It was quickly shared with Feinstein, as well.
But Feinstein was torn by competing concerns. The woman made clear that though she had shared the information because she felt it could be relevant to Senate consideration of Kavanaugh, she did not want to come forward or make the accusations public.
For weeks, the letter and its contents were closely limited to a tight circle of aides. Feinstein chose not to raise the matter either publicly or privately during hourslong questioning of Kavanaugh by senators last week, or in written questions sent to the nominee afterward, and she did not initially share it with colleagues.
According to three people familiar with the letter, it says that Kavanaugh, then a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in suburban Washington, had been drinking at a social gathering when he and a male friend took the teenage girl into a bedroom. The door was locked, and she was thrown on the bed. Kavanaugh then got on top of the teenager and put a hand over her mouth, as music was turned up, according to the account.
But the young woman was able to extricate herself and leave the room before anything else occurred, the letter says.
The FBI does not plan to launch a criminal investigation into the matter and instead sent the material to the White House to be added to Kavanaugh's background check file. Within an hour of receiving it, the White House sent that updated material back to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With speculation about the letter's contents circulating this week, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, released a different letter Friday, sent to him and to Feinstein and signed by 65 women who say they knew Kavanaugh while in high school.
"Through the more than 35 years we have known him, Brett has stood out for his friendship, character, and integrity," the women wrote. "In particular, he has always treated women with decency and respect. That was true when he was in high school, and it has remained true to this day."
Republicans signaled Friday that they were prepared to press ahead with Kavanaugh's confirmation, with the goal of installing him on the high court by the start of its session Oct. 1. The committee reiterated Friday afternoon that it would hold a panel vote on Thursday. Votes in the full Senate are expected the last week of September.
Although Grassley himself has not commented on the allegation, other Senate Republicans have mounted a vigorous defense of Kavanaugh, his qualifications and his personal character.
"I do not intend to allow Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation to be stalled because of an 11th hour accusation that Democrats did not see fit to raise for over a month," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the former committee chairman. "The senator in the best position to determine the credibility of these accusations made the conscious decision not to take action on them, and the authorities to whom the accusations have been referred have decided not to take action either."
A White House spokesman, Kerri Kupec, said the FBI has vetted Kavanaugh "thoroughly and repeatedly" during his career in government and the judiciary.
She said Kavanaugh has had 65 meetings with senators -- including with Feinstein, has sat through over 30 hours of testimony and publicly addressed more than 2,000 questions. "Not until the eve of his confirmation has Sen. Feinstein or anyone raised the specter of new 'information' about him," she said.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican and a member of the committee, was also skeptical.
"Let me get this straight: this is statement about secret letter regarding a secret matter and an unidentified person. Right," he tweeted.
Information for this article was contributed by Seung Min Kim of The Washington Post; by Nicholas Fandos and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times; and by Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo, Mary Clare Jalonick, Zeke Miller and Alan Fram of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/15/2018