Brett Kavanaugh

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Conservatives cry ‘fake news’ as New York Times adds correction to Kavanaugh report

A major update is fueling claims of bias.

 

David Covucci

Tech

Posted on Sep 16, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 3:52 am CDT

On Saturday night, the New York Times dropped a story that sparked fervent outrage: That many people confirmed that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to a woman at college. It also added that he may have committed another act of sexual assault while at Yale.

The story is an excerpt from a book two Times reporters produced on Kavanaugh’s past.

The response was fierce, as numerous 2020 contenders called on the Senate to impeach Kavanaugh for both his conduct and for reportedly lying to Congress during his confirmation.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and others said that the reporting was strong enough that it merited an impeachment inquiry.

In his confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh dismissed the story about flashing Deborah Ramirez. But the Times spoke to seven people who recalled the incident. However, another Yale student who added another tale of Kavanaugh is causing outrage.

In the second allegation, the paper said Kavanaugh exposed himself and had his penis pushed into a woman.

Now, an update the Times added to the piece is bringing cries of bias and “fake news.”

At the end of the story, the Times noted the woman declined to speak with the reporters and that her friends say she does not remember it. 

An earlier version of this article, which was adapted from a forthcoming book, did not include one element of the book’s account regarding an assertion by a Yale classmate that friends of Brett Kavanaugh pushed his penis into the hand of a female student at a drunken dorm party. The book reports that the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident. That information has been added to the article.

Although the reporting on the incident with Ramirez was sound—and that is mainly what many Democrats were citing when they said Kavanaugh lied under oath—the entire story has lost the credence it had just 24 hours.

Even President Donald Trump tweeted: “The one who is actually being assaulted is Justice Kavanaugh.”

Others chimed in as well, assuming the New York Times was guilty of running a hit on Kavanaugh.

Given how politically fraught the Kavanaugh confirmation still is, any mistake will lend credence to the conservative assumption that mainstream media outlets are out to get them.

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*First Published: Sep 16, 2019, 10:10 am CDT