As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denied that he had ever sexually assaulted anyone, he also volunteered that he was a virgin through high school and for “many years after.”
His denial, in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, was meant to cast doubt on accusations from his Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez, that he once drunkenly put his penis in front of her face, and from Dr. Christine Blassey Ford that he drunkenly groped her, held her down against her will and tried to rape her when they were teenagers. He also denied an accusation from attorney Michael Avenatti that he was involved in “gang rape” in the 1980s.
“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone,” Kavanaugh told MacCallum on Monday. “I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends.”
“So you’re saying that all through all these years that are in question, you were a virgin?” MacCallum replied.
“That’s correct,” said Kavanaugh.
“Never had sexual intercourse with anyone in high school?” she asked.
“Correct,” he replied.
“And through what years in college, since we’re probing into your personal life?” MacCallum asked.
“Many years after, I’ll leave it at that, many years after” Kavanaugh said, though it was unclear if he was referring to “many years” after high school or “many years” after college.
Others noted, however, that neither Ramirez nor Ford had accused him of sexual intercourse.
Kavanaugh seemed to be trying to address that point with his comment that he had also never done “anything close to sexual intercourse.”
“Kavanaugh has been accused of exposing himself to one woman and pinning another down while trying to disrobe her. Being a virgin wouldn’t disprove either of those allegations,” noted Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond on Twitter.
“Just need to point out that none of the accusations against Kavanaugh preclude him from being a virgin,” tweeted political reporter Kelly Cohen.
Avenatti tweeted a letter Sunday in which he said that Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, targeted women with alcohol or drugs at house parties in the 1980s so that a “train” of men could “gang rape” them. Avenatti said “multiple witnesses” could corroborate this, but provided no evidence.
Kavanaugh said the accusation was outrageous and completely false.
Kavanaugh also used a mistaken-identity defense, saying that while he didn’t doubt Ford had been assaulted, it was not by him.
“I am not questioning and have not questioned that perhaps Dr. Ford at some point in her life was sexually assaulted by someone in someplace. But what I know is I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone,” he told MacCallum, with his wife Ashley by his side.
Kavanaugh’s defenders have caught criticism for the mistaken-identity approach in the past. Some of his defenders have used the approach to signal that they are not calling Ford a liar, but believe she is mistaken about who attacked her.