Between Sept. 24 and Oct. 28, New York Times reporters Kate Kelly and Robin Pogrebin authored or contributed to a combined 12 news reports exploring the completely uncorroborated allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The vast majority of these reports — nearly every single one — worked to further the narrative that the judge was a violent, alcoholic sexual predator. From digging through Kavanaugh’s high school yearbooks to dredging up an incident from 1985 wherein Kavanaugh reportedly threw some ice at a bar patron, their editorial and coverage choices during the Supreme Court confirmation battle indicate a concerted effort to “prove” the already agreed upon premise that he is a monster.
So, of course, they’ve been rewarded with a book deal.
The book, titled, “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh,” will be published by Portfolio. “The publisher says the book will focus on the ‘many unanswered questions’ about Kavanaugh,” the Associated Press reports, adding that Pogrebin said in a statement that a “fuller picture” of Kavanaugh was needed.
Because their coverage of the Kavanaugh confirmation battle is being cited as the reason for the book deal, it’s worth remembering what that coverage looked like.
Kelly, who normally covers Wall Street, added her name to a Sept. 28 report that included a “fact-check” of something Kavanaugh didn’t actually say. The story, titled, “At Times, Kavanaugh’s Defense Misleads or Veers Off Point,” reported that “Judge Kavanaugh portrayed himself in his testimony as enjoying a beer or two as a high school and college student, but not as someone who often drank to excess during those years.” This effort to frame the conversation failed to acknowledge what Kavanaugh had admitted to in his testimony: “Sometimes I had too many beers. I liked beer. I still like beer.” The only denial Kavanaugh gave was that he had drunk to the point of memory loss. And so these intrepid journalists were “fact-checking” a claim Kavanaugh had never made.
Kelly also co-authored deep dives into Kavanaugh’s “horrible, hurtful” high school yearbook and a 1983 letter wherein the judge revealed he planned to drink beer with friends during an upcoming beach trip. The latter of these stories contributed to the larger effort to prove the judge is a raging alcoholic and may therefore also be capable of sexual assault. Because naturally, those two go hand in hand, at least for people targeted by Senate Democrats for personal destruction.
Then there’s Pogrebin, the full-time “Culture Desk” reporter. Her name is on a Sept. 25 report detailing unverified allegations from a woman who claims Kavanaugh once exposed himself during a game when they were both students at Yale. The story, titled, “In a Culture of Privilege and Alcohol at Yale, Her World Converged With Kavanaugh’s,” heavily quotes the accuser, Deborah Ramirez, and includes insinuations and innuendo such as, “Nearly a dozen people who knew him well or socialized with him said Judge Kavanaugh was a heavy drinker in college. Dr. Swisher said she saw him ‘very drunk’ a number of times. Mr. Roche, his former freshman year roommate, described his stumbling in at all hours of the night.”
It is a full 31 paragraphs before the reader encounters this, the only truly important line in the Times’ report: “Neither The New Yorker nor The New York Times, which attempted to verify Ms. Ramirez’s story last week, were able to find witnesses acknowledging the episode.” But as if to assure the reader that this doesn’t mean Ramirez’s story is false, Pogrebin and others were careful to add: “The New Yorker, however, reported that a fellow student, whom the publication did not identify, confirmed having learned of the incident — and Judge Kavanaugh’s alleged role in it — within a day or two after it happened.”
As it turns out, that “fellow student” mentioned by the Times is a man who claimed to have only heard about the alleged incident secondhand from a third individual who has since said he has no idea what Ramirez is talking about.
Pogrebin also contributed to the Times’ Sept. 28 article, which included the fake “fact-check” on Kavanaugh’s drinking. She also contributed to that absurd “bar fight” report centered on allegations that Kavanaugh once threw some ice at another bar patron in New Haven. Kavanaugh wasn’t arrested, and the police report upon which the Times report hinges doesn’t say that charges were filed.
Forgive me if I’m maybe a little skeptical that two journalists who worked so hard to distort the judge’s story during his confirmation will give us a “fuller,” more accurate picture of Kavanaugh.
