Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh apparently wrote a letter describing himself and his friends as “loud drunks with prolific pukers,” signing it “Bart.”
The 1983 letter, published last night by the New York Times, raises the prospect that Kavanaugh lied under oath when testifying to the Senate about his drinking last week.
It describes a beach trip Kavanaugh was planning to take with seven Georgetown Prep classmates. “It would probably be a good idea on Saturday the 18th to warn the neighbors that we’re loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us,” he wrote.
The future judge said the trip would have “big potential,” adding “interpret as wish.” He added: “I think we are unanimous that any girls we can beg to stay there are welcomed with open ….” Kavanaugh wrote. He didn’t finish that thought, concluding, “Anyway, I think we’re all set.”
Kavanaugh has been accused by two women of sexual assault in high school and college during drunken parties. Christine Blasey Ford said that Kavanaugh, who was “stumbling drunk,” pinned her to a bed and attempted to remove her clothing while they were in high school. Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a dorm-room party.
In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Kavanaugh denied he drank excessively or had ever blacked out while drunk. Kavanaugh was asked about “Bart O’Kavanaugh,” a heavy-drinking character in his friend Mark Judge’s memoir about teenage drinking. Kavanaugh said he didn’t know who that was.
In recent days, people who knew Kavanaugh in school have refuted his Senate testimony about his drinking. A Yale classmate, Chad Ludington, said Kavanaugh was a “frequent drinker, a heavy drinker,” whom he regularly saw “staggering drunk” and was “often belligerent and aggressive.”
Kavanaugh’s truthfulness has become an issue in the confirmation process. The federal judge said he drank legally as an 18-year-old high schooler, but Maryland’s drinking age was 21 at the time. In addition to the contradictory statements he made about his drinking history, Kavanaugh has been accused of lying under oath about his activities as former White House counsel: specifically, preparing a controversial judge for his confirmation hearings and receiving material stolen from Democratic senators about potential judicial candidates. Kavanaugh denied both charges, but recently discovered emails contradict him.
