Donald Trump’s nominee for the US supreme court is facing two new allegations of sexual misconduct, bringing the number of woman accusing him of inappropriate behaviour to five and threatening to completely derail his nomination process.
The fresh allegations include a claim by a woman that Brett Kavanaugh “assaulted a woman he was dating in 1998 while working for independent counsel Ken Starr”, according to the complaint.
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The unidentified man claims that he and a friend confronted two men on the boat once it had docked, and recently recognised Kavanaugh as one of the men he assaulted.
Kavanaugh has again categorically denied any wrongdoing, calling the accusations “Ridiculous. Total Twilight Zone. And no, I've never done anything like that”.
Pressure for Republican members of the senate judiciary committee are mounting as more and more people come forward, raising serious questions about Kavanaugh’s fitness to sit on the supreme court.
The allegations came hours before both Kavanugh and his original accuser, Dr Christine Blasey Ford, prepared to testify to the senate judiciary committee over allegations Ford was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in the presence of his best friend, author Mark Judge, in 1982.
Earlier, attorney Michael Avenatti revealed claims by a woman named Julie Swetnik, who alleged she was gang-raped at a drunken party around 1982, and that Kavanaugh and Judge were “present” at the time.
As news of the fourth and fifth allegations surfaced, CNBC reports that Trump has appeared to back away from his consistently staunch defence of Kavanaugh, indicating that he will wait until Ford testifies before the senate committee.
“I can always be convinced" Trump said, “It’s possible I'll hear [the allegations] and I’ll say, I’m changing my mind!”