Boulder Woman's Claims Of Sexual Abuse By Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Not In Hearing Testimony
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- A Boulder woman's claims that she was sexually abused by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh got scant attention at the marathon US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday.
Christine Blasey Ford was the only accuser to be heard, although the names of Deborah Ramirez of Boulder and Julie Swetnick of the Washington area, were mentioned.
Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa gave his reason why the Boulder woman was not invited.
"My staff made eight requests, yes eight requests for evidence from Ms. Ramirez," he said at the hearing.
But on Twitter John Clune, the attorney for Ramirez wrote, "Their refusal to give us any information about their process or even talk to us by phone without first submitting "her evidence is highly suspect."
Grassley claimed Ramirez and Swetnick weren't able to cooperate because of their lawyers, "Neither attorney has made their clients available for interview, the committee can't do an investigation if attorneys
are stonewalling."
Ramirez' Boulder attorney took issue with that in additional tweets, "The committee is creating meaningless hurdles to try to paint Ms. Ramirez as uncooperative."
Ramirez has claimed that a young Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a college party. The nominee rejected all allegations out of hand.
"I'm in gangs, boats in Rhode Island, I'm in Colorado," Kavanaugh said during the hearing.
But some Democrats want to hear more than Christine Blasey Ford.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont stated, "The same applies to the serious allegations by Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, let's have a non-partisan professional investigation."
And as Ford testified, a message was forwarded via twitter from Ramirez, "Thinking of you today, Christine. They want us to feel alone and isolated but I'm there wrapping my arms around you."
Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California asked Kavanaugh, "The allegations by Dr. Ford, Ms.Ramirez and Ms Swetnick are wrong?"
"That's what I'm saying emphatically, emphatically" Kavanaugh replied.
The final questioning of the hearing came from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. He directly asked Kavanaugh if the allegations by Deborah Ramirez were true. Again, Kavanaugh replied they were not. Ramirez still wants to speak to the FBI about her claims.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.