A Republican Senate candidate said Friday the allegation leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford is less legitimate than Anita Hill’s accusation against Justice Clarence Thomas because Kavanaugh and his accuser were drunk and in high school when the alleged incident took place.
North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer, who’s running against Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp for her Senate seat, called Ford’s allegation “even more absurd” than Hill’s because the incident she detailed “never went anywhere” and they were teenagers.
In 1991, Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment in the workplace and testified during his confirmation hearing.
Ford alleges Kavanaugh held her down on a bed and tried to remove her clothing during a party in Maryland more than 30 years ago when the two were in high school. According to Ford’s account, she had one beer at the party, and Kavanaugh was allegedly “stumbling drunk.”
Kavanaugh has categorically denied the allegation.
“If to the degree there was any legitimacy to Anita Hill’s claims, and she tried and didn’t prevail — Clarence Thomas did and America did — this case is even more absurd because these people were teenagers when this supposed alleged incident took place. Teenagers.” Cramer told the Jarrod Thomas Show, which airs on North Dakota radio station 1310 KNOX.
Cramer continued, “Not a boss-supervisor-subordinate situation, as the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill situation was claimed to be. These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement. They were drunk. Nothing evidently happened in it all, even by her own accusation. Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
CNN first reported Cramer’s comments.
Heitkamp is in a tough race to keep control of her seat in a state where President Trump won by 35 percentage points against Hillary Clinton.
Cramer is leading Heitkamp by more than 1 percentage point in an average of polls by RealClearPolitics.
