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Kavanaugh's former classmate denies being at party in sexual assault allegation

Posted at 3:25 AM, Sep 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-19 06:25:19-04

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, another former classmate of Brett Kavanaugh's denies attending a party like the one described in the allegation made by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her three decades ago when they were teenagers.

Patrick J. Smyth attended Georgetown Prep -- an all-boys school in North Bethesda, Maryland -- alongside Kavanaugh. Both men graduated in 1983. Smyth signed a letter this summer, before the allegations against Kavanaugh were made public, testifying that Kavanaugh "is singularly qualified to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court," along with dozen other of the school's alumni.

Eric Bruce, who is representing Smyth, authored a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the committee. CNN has obtained a copy of the letter, which includes a quote from Smyth denying seeing any "improper conduct" from Kavanaugh.

"I understand that I have been identified by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as the person she remembers as 'PJ' who supposedly was present at the party she described in her statements to the Washington Post," Smyth says in his statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh."

"Personally speaking, I have known Brett Kavanaugh since high school and I know him to be a person of great integrity, a great friend, and I have never witnessed any improper conduct by Brett Kavanaugh towards women. To safeguard my own privacy and anonymity, I respectfully request that the Committee accept this statement in response to any inquiry the Committee may have."

Kavanaugh has denied being at the party and the allegation of sexually and physically assaulting Ford.

Another friend and classmate of Kavanaugh's, Mark Judge, has been named as the other person who was in the room when the alleged incident took place. Judge has also denied the incident happened.

Though Smyth states Ford has named him in connection with the party, she did not publicly identify him when she provided her account of what happened to the Washington Post earlier this week. Ford did not immediately respond to a request for comment through her attorneys, nor did the White House.

The letter is expected to be sent to Grassley and Feinstein on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ford's attorneys argued in a letter to Grassley that the FBI should investigate the incident before senators hold a hearing on the allegations, which is scheduled for Monday.

Ford's attorney Lisa Banks said Tuesday on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" following the release of Ford's letter that Ford will talk with the committee but that she's not prepared for a hearing that soon.

"She will talk with the committee," Banks said. "She is not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on Monday. This just came out 48 hours ago."

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