A top aide to Senate Judiciary Committee member Orrin Hatch said his office had no connection to a Thursday night tweetstorm alleging a classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh might be the person who tried to sexually assault Christine Blasey Ford in 1982.
Earlier in the week, Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock tweeted that people should “keep an eye on” the Twitter account of Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who said he would in coming days confirm Kavanaugh was not at the party where Ford said the alleged sexual assault occurred.
Some say that’s evidence Hatch’s office, or even Hatch himself, played a role in Whelan’s tweets, which outlined a theory that named a Kavanaugh classmate as the possible culprit. The Thursday night tweetstorm included a yearbook photo and current image of the man, as well as a layout of the classmate’s home to back up the mistaken identity hypothesis.
[Related: Christine Blasey Ford rejects mistaken ID theory: Report]
Whelan’s posts were quickly condemned and soon people identified Whitlock as a possible co-conspirator, noting his earlier tweet.
“Entirely appropriate for reporters to press @mattdizwhitlock with specific questions on what foreknowledge or involvement Sen. Hatch’s office may have had, especially since earlier this week Hatch himself suggested that the accusation was likely a misidentification,” tweeted Josh Marshall, editor of the progressive blog Talking Points Memo.
But Whitlock told the Washington Examiner he had no knowledge of what Whelan was planning to tweet.
“I’ve never met Ed,” Whitlock told the Washington Examiner. “And I only knew as much about what he was working on as he had tweeted earlier in the week, which had generated considerable speculation and even a Politico article about setting the ‘Washington rumor mill on fire.’”
Whitlock said Hatch was completely unaware of Whelan’s theory or what he planned to tweet.
“I had suggested people keep an eye out because Ed has been a fixture in judicial confirmations for years, and has been a valuable resource on the Kavanaugh confirmation up to this point,” he said. “I had hoped he would provide something new and valuable to the discussion, as he had hinted in his tweets earlier in the week.”
Kavanaugh opponents and the media are working to connect the Whelan tweetstorm with the White House.
PBS host and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa tweeted Friday that Whelan, in a phone call, denied talking to White House Counsel Don McGahn, “or anyone at the White House, or Judge Kavanaugh,” about his tweetstorm theory.
