Senate Republicans aim to discredit 1 Kavanaugh accuser with hearsay on sexual tastes

Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley.
(Image credit: Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans emailed hundreds of journalists a statement from Dennis Ketterer, a former TV meteorologist in Utah, who says he was in a brief relationship with Julie Swetnick, one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. In his statement, Ketterer says that during his weeks-long 1993 relationship with Swetnick, she once told him she enjoyed group sex, had engaged in such activity in high school, and never mentioned Kavanaugh or "said anything about being sexually assaulted, raped, gang-raped, or having sex against her will."

A congressional committee releasing "a statement that included such explicit and unconfirmed details about a member of the public" is "unprecedented," The Washington Post reports. Swetnick said in a sworn affidavit that Kavanaugh had been present at a house party in 1982 where she was the victim of a gang rape. The Senate Republicans said Ketterer's statement was provided "under penalty of felony" — an odd phrase — and did not explain how it contradicted Swetnik's affidavit.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.