Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said Monday he’s not going anywhere, even in the face of new sexual misconduct allegations against him.
“I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process,” Kavanaugh wrote in a new letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out. The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. The last-minute character assassination will not succeed.”
Kavanaugh is facing two allegations of sexual misconduct from two separate women who said the incidents occurred decades ago.
The first, Christine Blasey Ford, accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed, groping her and attempting to remove her clothing during a party in the early 1980s, when the two were in high school.
The second, from Deborah Ramirez, came to light in a New Yorker article published Sunday. Ramirez claims Kavanaugh, during a party at Yale University, exposed himself, thrust his penis in her face and forced her to touch it.
[Related: Trump dismisses allegations against Brett Kavanaugh as ‘totally political]
Ramirez’s accusation was made public just after the Senate Judiciary Committee announced that Kavanaugh and Ford would testify during a public hearing Thursday morning.
The committee and Ford’s lawyers had been engaged in a series of negotiations over the last few days before finally reaching agreement Sunday.
Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations from both Ford and Ramirez, saying the claims are “false and uncorroborated” and seek to derail his nomination.
“There is now a frenzy to come up with something — anything — that will block this process and a vote on my confirmation from occurring,” he wrote.
Kavanaugh warned in his letter that his brutal confirmation battle could cause others to turn away from public service.
“These are smears, pure and simple. And they debase our political discourse. But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country,” he wrote. “Such grotesque and obvious character assassination—if allowed to succeed—will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service.”
Kavanaugh expressed gratitude to the women who have come forward to support him and said he owes it to them, and his family, to defend “my integrity and my name.”
