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The New York Times found itself mired in yet another controversy over the weekend after targeting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with a vulgar tweet related to new allegations of sexual misconduct.
"Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party may seem like harmless fun. But when Brett Kavanaugh did it to her, Deborah Ramirez says it confirmed that she didn't belong at Yale in the first place," the Times' tweeted from its NYT Opinion account.
The New York Times just deleted this tweet that stated: "Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm par… https://t.co/xQ9jRDeVYa— Ryan Saavedra (@Ryan Saavedra) 1568504385.0
The Times later deleted the tweet after sparking backlash on social media. The Times called the tweet "offensive" and apologized.
The tweet was published Saturday in response to a new story reigniting allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, who faced an onslaught of uncorroborated sexual misconduct allegations during his Senate confirmation last fall.
What does the story claim?
The Times' story claims allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford are "credible," despite not publishing evidence to defend the claim. Blasey Ford's allegations were determined last year to be unsubstantiated and uncorroborated. In fact, just this month, a new book about the Kavanaugh story revealed Blasey Ford's attorney, Debra Katz, had admitted Blasey Ford came forward with her allegations, in part, to protect abortion rights.
Meanwhile, the Times claimed it has now corroborated Deborah Ramirez's allegation that Kavanaugh thrust his genitalia at her during a party at Yale. However, the Times reported last year that it found no one who could corroborate Ramirez's story. Ramirez herself could not find anyone to confirm her story.
Read this paragraph from the New York Times, then re-read it. https://t.co/6Qt4UnW4F2 https://t.co/ngigW5au5u— Guy Benson (@Guy Benson) 1537762265.0
The report even claimed the Ramirez story was "the talk of campus," which Kavanaugh said would have been the case had it actually occurred. The Times said it found only seven people who had heard about the incident before Kavanaugh's nomination; only two of those people allegedly heard about the incident in the days after it allegedly occurred.
The Times went on to detail previously unreported allegations against Kavanaugh. According to the story, Kavanaugh pulled down his pants at a party and "friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student." The story claimed Max Stier witnessed the incident and notified senators and the FBI about the incident last year.
What the Times did not disclose is that Stier has a connection to the Clintons.
Is that the same Max Stier who was one of Clinton’s defense attorneys? Yes, yes it is. https://t.co/JAM4rdDViy— Sean Davis (@Sean Davis) 1568511925.0
The Times also did not include the fact that the supposed new allegation is not actually new, but was "shopped" to Senate Democrats last year, who found the story less than credible.
This is the blockbuster "new allegation" against Kavanaugh. Except it's not actually new. It was shopped to Senate… https://t.co/2XSOYlA5l0— Carrie Severino (@Carrie Severino) 1568551879.0
The Times' story is an excerpt from a forthcoming book about the Kavanaugh saga written by two Times' reporters.
According to Mollie Hemingway, who published a book about the Kavanaugh story earlier this year, the Times' story omits a key detail the reporters include in their book: That the new woman who Kavanaugh allegedly victimized denies have memory of the alleged incident.
The book notes, quietly, that the woman Max Stier named as having been supposedly victimized by Kavanaugh and frien… https://t.co/Ir1e6tbvlR— Mollie (@Mollie) 1568548565.0
NYT Reporters’ essay about a supposed second Yale incident omitted their own book reporting that completely undercu… https://t.co/E9vusznE9h— Mollie (@Mollie) 1568550407.0
Kavanaugh adamantly denies all allegations of sexual misconduct. However, he has not yet responded to the Times' newest story.
President Donald Trump responded to the Times' story Sunday, writing on Twitter that Kavanaugh should begin suing for libel.
Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue. The lies… https://t.co/Ol1TbIxlei— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1568555251.0
