President Donald Trump is taking advantage of claims that an accuser reportedly admitted to lying about alleging she was assaulted by now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to suggest all of the women who came forward during the confirmation process were not telling the truth. At a rally in Montana Saturday afternoon, the president’s strategy became crystal clear as he didn’t mention the name of the accuser who reportedly recanted her story. If he had, his supporters may have realized they likely never heard of that woman before because her accusation never received the attention of others, most notably Christine Blasey Ford.
“One of his accusers just came out a little while ago and said it was all a lie and said she never met now Justice Kavanaugh. It was a made up story. She made up the story,” Trump said. “It was a lie. It was a total like. It was fake. You know what fake means? It was fake.
She lied about the story about rape. About rape, she lied. And we’re supposed to sit back and take it.”
Trump was clearly referring to the move by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley to request the Justice Department and FBI investigate Judy Munro-Leighton after she reportedly admitted that she lied about writing an anonymous letter that claimed Kavanaugh had raped her. When investigators tracked her down, she reportedly admitted she didn’t write the letter and had, in fact, never met Kavanaugh. Munro-Leighton’s allegations were not widely reported at the time though so her name never became widely known. And now the president is using her to cast doubts on all the other accusers.
“What about the others? When are they going to say what happened?” Trump asked, referring to Kavanaugh’s other accusers. Later Trump patted himself on the back for sticking with Kavanaugh, wondering what would have happened if “he dropped out because of a filthy dirty lie.”
Trump’s words at the Montana rally were a more direct version of a tweet the president sent earlier in the day focusing on the reportedly recanted statement without actually naming Munro-Leighton. “A vicious accuser of Justice Kavanough has just admitted that she was lying, her story was totally made up, or FAKE!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Can you imagine if he didn’t become a Justice of the Supreme Court because of her disgusting False Statements. What about the others? Where are the Dems on this?”
