Julie Swetnick, the third woman to come forward publicly with sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, is willing to take a lie detector test to prove her credibility, her attorney, Michael Avenatti, said in an interview Wednesday.
“This is another strong, courageous woman who feels incredibly strong about her convictions and her allegations,” Avenatti said in an exclusive interview with Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons and Krystal Ball.
“I’m looking forward to putting her credibility up against people like Donald Trump, Senator [Chuck] Grassley (R-Iowa), Brett Kavanaugh, [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and others. All of the privileged white guys that want to come after my client and cast aspersions against her and me. I’m looking forward to doing battle with every one of them,” he added.
Avenatti on Monday said he had “credible information” about further sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh.
The attorney, who also represents adult-film star Stormy Daniels in her suits against President Trump, said Swetnick had not taken a lie detector examination before going public with her claim.
Swetnick claims that Kavanaugh attended a party where she was drugged with “Quaaludes or something similar” and attacked by a series of men in a “gang rape.”
Kavanaugh has denied Swetnick’s charges.
“In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present,” Swetnick wrote in a sworn declaration to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
In the interview, Avenatti said his client is willing to take a polygraph test, but would only do so if Kavanaugh also submitted to an examination with the results of both examinations guaranteed to be released to the public.
“She is absolutely willing to take a polygraph examination, provided that Brett Kavnaugh also agrees to take a polygraph examination, and provided that the results of both of those would be independently reviewed by an expert and released to the American public,” Avenatti said. “Provided that he’ll take one, she is more than prepared to take one and the results should all be released.
Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to allege sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, passed a polygraph examination prior to her allegations being made public. Such tests are often cited in the court of public opinion as proof of veracity but are rarely admissible in formal court proceedings.
Kavanaugh has fiercely denied Ford’s claim that he pinned her to a bed during a high school party when the two were students in the 1980s and attempted to remove her clothing. He has also denied the allegations from his second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, that he exposed himself to her during a college party when the two were students at Yale University.
In a freewheeling news conference Wednesday afternoon, Trump defended his Supreme Court pick, stating that Kavanaugh has been subjected to “false” attacks. The president said he would watch Thursday’s Senate hearing in which Kavanaugh and Ford are scheduled to give testimony.
“I’ve had a lot of false charges made against me,” Trump said. “People want fame, they want money, they want whatever. So when I see it, I view it differently than someone sitting at home watching television.”
But, Trump said, if he could be convinced that Kavanaugh was guilty of sexual assault and lied about it, he would withdraw his appointment.
“If I thought he was guilty of something like this, yeah, sure,” he said.
—Matthew Sheffield
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