Laura Ingraham reacted to New Yorker reporters Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer’s story of a second woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, with the Fox News host demanding on Monday that Farrow’s Pulitzer Prize be revoked.
“So this is Ronan Farrow, they should take his Pulitzer back for this. Go find Ronan and take his Pulitzer back, OK?” she said on her radio show. “He actually did great reporting when it came to the [Harvey] Weinstein stuff — because that was someone who was a dirtbag his whole life, his entire life. Now you’re taking a good man and going back to college and high school to try to destroy him. That’s what it’s about.”
The clip was first flagged by the professional Fox News watchers at Media Matters for America.
On Sunday, the New Yorker published an account of Deborah Ramirez, who offered a graphic description of Kavanaugh while the two were both intoxicated at a party during their Freshman year at Yale.
Per the New Yorker:
After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident.
The account immediately come in for scrutiny, with New York Times reporter Peter Baker tweeting out that his publication had passed on the story for lack of substantiating evidence.
“The Times interviewed dozens to corroborate 2nd allegation against Kavanaugh and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ramirez told ex-classmates she couldn’t be certain Kavanaugh was the one who exposed himself,” he said.
The Times interviewed dozens to corroborate 2nd allegation against Kavanaugh and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ramirez told ex-classmates she couldn't be certain Kavanaugh was the one who exposed himself. @SherylNYT @npfandos https://t.co/lGVc4hJzEU
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) September 24, 2018
Kavanaugh also faces an allegation from California professor Christine Blasey Ford, who says the judge sexually assaulted her while drunk at a party in high school. Kavanaugh has categorically denied both allegations.
Fox News hosts, including Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, have largely lined up behind President Trump who has defended his Supreme Court nominee and suggested that the women coming forward were politically motivated.
The New Yorker, along with the New York Times, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize gold medal for public service for stories by Farrow for exposing the decades-long sexual predation of Harvey Weinstein.