Brian Williams on MSNBC just said the LA Times is reporting that the FBI on Friday night has already contacted one other women who made accusations against Brett Kavanaugh to schedule interviews with her, if possible tonight.
They are moving fast with this investigation. I don’t see the story on the LA Times site yet. I assume they mean either Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh shoved his penis in her face at a party in college or Julie Swetnick, who said Kavanaugh was at a party where she was gang-raped.
Williams said the FBI contacted the woman’s attorneys, who couldn’t arrange interviews Friday night, but said they would likely take place this weekend.
Okay, here’s the LA Times story. It’s just two paragraphs buried in the middle, and all it says is what Brian Williams said on the air.
Williams is interviewing an FBI guy who’s a regular on MSNBC, Frank Figliuzzi, former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, who’s outlining what the FBI will be doing.
Figluizzi says agents at the Baltimore division which covers Kavanaugh’s high school, New Haven division which covers Yale, in California where some of the accusers are — are all working tonight. They’ll divide it up by field office and then by people, places and things.
All the accusers, all the witnesses, Yale dorm rooms, the house where Christine Blasey Ford says she was attacked to see if the floor plan matches her description, are there photos that put Kavanaugh next to people he said he doesn’t know, including the accusers?
The Safeway where Mark Judge worked, to pull records about his employment, dates, schedules, the polygraph exam Dr. Ford took to see if it was done right.
Then they’ll put all the evidence they find in front of Kavanaugh. Figluizzi said if it was him, he’d have two female agents question Kavanaugh, to see if he holds up or blows up the way he did in Thursday’s hearing to Amy Klobushar (Have you ever been black-out drunk?).
He says Kavanaugh will be asked to take a polygraph test, and if he refuses, it will be noted. Says he would be surprised if Kavanaugh agrees to take one, given how many statements he made that seemed to be … I can’t remember the word he used — let’s go with untrue.
Former US Attorney Barbara McQuade, another MSNBC regular, says the FBI doesn’t have the power to force anyone to agree to an interview, but could go back to the Senate and ask the Senate to issue a subpoena. (Wouldn’t you love to see McConnell explain not doing that.) Although given they only have a week, they might not have time to get Senate to issue subpoena.
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As a sexual assault survivor myself, I don’t think I can adequately describe what this past week has been like.
The idea that women are filled with rage over the treatment of Dr. Ford, the image of her facing all those Republican men and how little credence they gave her testimony. How ugly and angry Kavanaugh was — totally that entitled, spoiled rich guy, so easy to imagine how ugly he could be when he was drunk.
We’ve been telling each other our stories all week. The things that were done to us and how they were done and when and where and what we did about those things afterward.
So many people i’ve known for decades, talking about attacks they’ve never told anyone about. It just gets more and more infuriating.
I’m 55 years old, and the thing that really got me this week was that the culture we faced of women not being believed, being too scared to report assault, knowing it’s likely nothing will happen if we do speak up — that nothing has really changed.
There’s the #MeToo movement, and I’m grateful for it. We’ve seen some men who’ve been forced to resign important positions because of it, but we haven’t seen prosecutions except for Bill Cosby.
You think about the world you’re leaving for your daughters and granddaughters, and it breaks your heart that it’s no different than the world we faced in the 70s and 80s in high school and college.
There’s the rage you feel a man attacks you, when he decides that what he wants is more important than what you want or how you feel, that he will take what he wants.
Then there’s the rage you feel when you hear people say stupid, obnoxious things about women who dare to report rape.
But there’s a whole different level of rage and despair that you feel when your government, that line of old, white, Republican men felt entitled to judge that one woman who dared come forward and challenge that entitled little shit Brett Kavanaugh.
How deferential she was to those assholes, how her voice sounded more like what you imagine it did when she was 15 and attacked than a highly respected and educated professional of 53. How she tried so hard to answer all their questions.
And then Kavanaugh rages that anyone dared question him, including the women who dared to become US Senators. He feels like he doesn't even have to respect them.
This editorial cartoon on Twitter, sums it up nicely, I think:
It’s 2018, and women have to beg a bunch of men to listen to the things that have happened to us and to believe us over a man.
And again, what the man says, what the men want — matters so much more than what women say or want. Like being raped all over again.
We don’t matter. Not as much as men.
And this:
The rage is real. I hope it comes through in November.
UPDATE: I was out all day working on a house, pounding things and sawing and cutting and hauling stuff around until I was exhausted, and it was good for me.
But I felt bad because I don’t want to leave the impression that I’m furious at all men or that I think they’re all jerks. I don’t.
My abuse happened in childhood, which …. yeah, was awful, and I worked for a really creepy guy when I was sixteen in my first job, who loved my boobs in a truly gross way, and one who was just an asshole on a power trip, my first job out of college.
But most of them men in my life are great and were great. I had a great dad and miss him a lot now that he’s gone.
I dated guys who were really good guys. I had a lot of great guy friends. My husband and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary this year. He’s my biggest cheerleader, my foundation. We have a son who treats everyone well, and I miss his teenage years when we used to have a house full of boys all the time.
I know there are lots of wonderful men in the world, kind and supportive and loving.
As furious as women get in this fight, we still see you, the good guys.