A Republican Yale drinking buddy of Kavanaugh's tells CNN he lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee


When Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh told Fox News he never drank to excess, several of his Yale classmates were so outraged they decided to set the record straight. One of them, Lynne Brookes, also accepted Chris Cuomo's invitation to join him on CNN after Kavanaugh repeated his claim of relative sobriety under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Cuomo asked Brookes — a Republican who admires Kavanaugh's judicial record — why she changed her mind.
"I'll tell you, Chris, I watched the whole hearing, and a number of my Yale colleagues and I were extremely disappointed in Brett Kavanaugh's characterization of himself and the way that he evaded his excessive drinking question" and "was lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee today," Brookes said. "There is no doubt in my mind that while at Yale, he was a big partier, often drank to excess, and there had to be a number of nights where he does not remember." She said she can "almost guarantee" he doesn't remember a night she witnessed where he was "stumbling drunk, in a ridiculous costume, saying really dumb things" to pledge a fraternity.
Brookes also dismissed Kavanaugh's defense that his studies and sports precluded heavy drinking, noting she played two varsity sports. "I studied really hard, too," she said. "I went to Wharton business school, I did very well at Yale, I also drank to excess many nights with Brett Kavanaugh." She recounted a party where Kavanaugh and Chris Dudley, one of his character witnesses, humiliated a female student by barging in on her in a compromising position.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I'm not saying it's wrong that he drank," Cuomo concluded after the interview, but "if he's going to be the ultimate judge of truth in our society, a Supreme Court justice, and at 53 years old he's going to lie about what he did when he was 15, what else will he lie about?" Watch below. Peter Weber
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter school
speed read The court upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools
-
GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trump
speed read The domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House would protect the Trump administration from the consequences of violating court orders
-
Judge scolds DOJ over Newark mayor arrest
speed read Ras Baraka was arrested during a May 9 surprise visit to a migrant detention facility
-
Trump lectures South Africa president on 'white genocide'
speed read Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over his demonstrably false genocide claims
-
Trump twists House GOP arms on megabill
speed read The bill will provide a $350 billion boost to military and anti-immigration spending and 'cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs'
-
Trump DOJ said to pay $5M to family of Jan. 6 rioter
speed read The US will pay a hefty sum to the family of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot on January 6
-
Trump DOJ charging House Democrat in ICE fracas
speed read Rep. LaMonica McIver is being charged with assault over a clash outside an immigration detention facility in Newark
-
Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer
speed read The diagnosis hits close to home, as the former president 'dedicated much of his later career to cancer research'