One of the New York Times reporters behind the bombshell story detailing a new sexual misconduct allegation about Justice Brett Kavanaugh also authored a deleted tweet that said thrusting a penis in a woman’s face could be considered “harmless fun.”
Promoting the report Saturday evening, the Times‘s opinion account tweeted, “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 then deleted the tweet after it received intense backlash on social media, saying it was “poorly phrased.” That apologetic tweet was also deleted and replaced by another that read more forcefully, “We deleted a previous tweet regarding this article. It was offensive, and we apologize.”
The author of the original tweet was culture reporter Robin Pogrebin, according to a “Times insider familiar with the matter” who spoke with Politico.
“It was really neglectful,” the source said, referring to a lack of adequate vetting. “There were serious errors made along the way.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to both the Times and Pogrebin for comment, but did not immediately receive responses.
The Times exposé, adapted from an upcoming book by reporters Pogrebin and Kate Kelly titled The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation and due out Tuesday, centered around Deborah Ramirez, who alleged Kavanaugh thrust his penis into her face at a Yale dormitory party in the 1980s.
