How Michael Avenatti Saved the Kavanaugh Nomination
Michael Avenatti outside the United States District Court Southern District of New York on April 16, 2018.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Julie Swetnick's allegations gave the judge the fire he needed.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh may be in a bizarre legal/political limbo, but his nomination is still alive. That would come as something of a surprise for those who saw his timid and oh-so-careful Fox News interview with Martha MacCallum early last week. Kavanaugh robotically repeated a limited set of talking points. He seemed slightly bewildered, in a fog. Reports were that he had not inspired confidence at 1600 Pennsylvania.
But then came along Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who so recently made his name representing porn actress Stormy Daniels, with a sworn declaration from a woman who claimed that Kavanaugh was part of a group who conducted gang rapes at parties in the 1980s. Avenatti seemingly did what the White House could not—he knocked Kavanaugh out of his funk.
A recently released transcript reveals that
it was the fantastical accusations made by the lawyer’s client, Julie Swetnick,
that stoked the outrage Kavanaugh displayed in Thursday’s Senate hearing.
Many on the right agree that the judge’s passionate self-defense buoyed what had been his sinking chances.
https://www.weeklystandard.com/eric...=widget&itm_source=article&itm_content=item_3
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Julie Swetnick's allegations gave the judge the fire he needed.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh may be in a bizarre legal/political limbo, but his nomination is still alive. That would come as something of a surprise for those who saw his timid and oh-so-careful Fox News interview with Martha MacCallum early last week. Kavanaugh robotically repeated a limited set of talking points. He seemed slightly bewildered, in a fog. Reports were that he had not inspired confidence at 1600 Pennsylvania.
But then came along Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who so recently made his name representing porn actress Stormy Daniels, with a sworn declaration from a woman who claimed that Kavanaugh was part of a group who conducted gang rapes at parties in the 1980s. Avenatti seemingly did what the White House could not—he knocked Kavanaugh out of his funk.
A recently released transcript reveals that
it was the fantastical accusations made by the lawyer’s client, Julie Swetnick,
that stoked the outrage Kavanaugh displayed in Thursday’s Senate hearing.
Many on the right agree that the judge’s passionate self-defense buoyed what had been his sinking chances.
https://www.weeklystandard.com/eric...=widget&itm_source=article&itm_content=item_3
