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Mark Judge’s Name Keeps Coming Up. Here’s What We Know. Mark Judge’s Name Keeps Coming Up. Here’s What We Know.
(about 1 hour later)
Two women who have accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at parties as a teenager have both named the same man as being present at the time: Mark Judge.Two women who have accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at parties as a teenager have both named the same man as being present at the time: Mark Judge.
A high school friend of Judge Kavanaugh, Mr. Judge has quickly become a significant but elusive figure. His name was repeatedly brought up on Thursday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with one of the women, Christine Blasey Ford. A high school friend of Judge Kavanaugh, Mr. Judge has quickly become a significant but elusive figure. His name was repeatedly brought up on Thursday during testimony by one of the women, Christine Blasey Ford, and Judge Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
[Read live updates from the hearing][Read live updates from the hearing]
But Mr. Judge has avoided the public spotlight in recent weeks, holed up at a Delaware beach house, denying the allegations through a lawyer. He has not been subpoenaed by the committee to testify. But Mr. Judge has avoided the public spotlight in recent weeks, holed up at a Delaware beach house, denying the allegations through a lawyer.
Judge Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations made by Dr. Blasey and a second woman, Julie Swetnick, as well as an accusation by a Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez, that he exposed himself to her at a drunken college party. Democratic senators pressed Judge Kavanaugh about his relationship with Mr. Judge and lamented that he had not been called as a witness by the Republican majority that controls the process. The two men were close friends at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland.
He and Mr. Judge were close friends at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland. In their 1983 yearbook, a photo of football players in pads and uniform showed them grinning side by side in the second row. The yearbook page of Mr. Judge mentions that he was a member of the club “100 KEGS or Bust” and includes the quotation, “Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs.” Mr. Judge is now an author, filmmaker and journalist who has written for conservative publications including The Daily Caller and The Weekly Standard. He had active profiles on Facebook and YouTube until his name surfaced in recent weeks.
Mr. Judge, now an author, filmmaker and journalist who has written for conservative publications including The Daily Caller and The Weekly Standard, had active profiles on Facebook and YouTube until his name surfaced in recent weeks.
Those social media pages have since been removed, including a video he had posted recently of himself walking around the Georgetown Prep campus. One of Mr. Judge’s works, “Wasted,” a memoir he published in 1997, describes his alcohol-fueled years as a teenager.Those social media pages have since been removed, including a video he had posted recently of himself walking around the Georgetown Prep campus. One of Mr. Judge’s works, “Wasted,” a memoir he published in 1997, describes his alcohol-fueled years as a teenager.
On Thursday, Dr. Blasey repeated her accusations under oath, including her allegation about Mr. Judge’s role, stating that he was in the room at a home in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s when a drunken Judge Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, grabbed at her body and clothes, and covered her mouth to keep her from screaming. She also said that music was playing in the room when she was pushed into it, and that either Judge Kavanaugh or Mr. Judge had turned it up. (Dr. Blasey, who uses that name professionally, is often identified by news outlets by her married name, Ford.)
[Here’s a guide to The New York Times’s coverage of the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh][Here’s a guide to The New York Times’s coverage of the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh]
Judge Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations made by Dr. Blasey and a second woman, Julie Swetnick, as well as an accusation by a Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez, that he exposed himself to her at a drunken college party.
On Thursday, Dr. Blasey repeated her accusations under oath, including her allegation about Mr. Judge’s role, stating that he was in the room at a home in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s when a drunken Judge Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, grabbed at her body and clothes, and covered her mouth to keep her from screaming.
She also said that music was playing in the room when she was pushed into it, and that either Judge Kavanaugh or Mr. Judge had turned it up. She describes a drunk Mr. Judge as a jumpy and at times conflicted accomplice to assault. (Dr. Blasey, who uses that name professionally, is often identified by news outlets by her married name, Ford.)
“Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They seemed to be having a very good time,” Dr. Blasey said at the hearing. “Mark seemed ambivalent, at times urging Brett on and at times telling him to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not.”“Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They seemed to be having a very good time,” Dr. Blasey said at the hearing. “Mark seemed ambivalent, at times urging Brett on and at times telling him to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not.”
In an exchange with a senator on Thursday, Dr. Blasey said she had never forgotten that laughter. She said she had never forgotten that laughter.
“The uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense,” she said. “I was underneath one of them while the two laughed. Two friends having a really good time together.” “The uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense,” she testified. “I was underneath one of them while the two laughed. Two friends having a really good time together.”
Dr. Blasey said Mr. Judge jumped on top of them twice, which caused everyone to tumble off the bed and onto the floor the second time. That gave her an opening to get out of the room and hide in a bathroom, she said.Dr. Blasey said Mr. Judge jumped on top of them twice, which caused everyone to tumble off the bed and onto the floor the second time. That gave her an opening to get out of the room and hide in a bathroom, she said.
“I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairs, pin-balling off the walls on the way down.” When she could no longer hear them, she ran downstairs and left the house, she said. “I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairs, pin-balling off the walls on the way down,” she said, adding that when she could no longer hear them, she ran downstairs and left the house.
Dr. Blasey testified that she saw Mr. Judge working at a Safeway grocery store in Potomac, Md. Weeks later, Dr. Blasey testified, she saw Mr. Judge working at a Safeway grocery store in Potomac, Md.
In his memoir, Mr. Judge mentioned that he worked for a few weeks at a supermarket, helping people load groceries into their cars. He wrote that he often showed up at his early-morning shift hung over from the night before. “I said ‘hello’ to him,” Dr. Blasey said. “His face was white and very uncomfortable saying ‘hello’ back.” She added, “He was just nervous and not really wanting to speak with me, and he looked a little bit ill.”
“I said ‘hello’ to him,” Dr. Blasey testified. “His face was white and very uncomfortable saying ‘hello’ back.” She added, “He was just nervous and not really wanting to speak with me, and he looked a little bit ill.” Mr. Judge has disputed that anything like Dr. Blasey’s allegations ever took place. In an interview with The New York Times before her name became public, Mr. Judge described high school parties he attended as being mostly small, saying they took place after football games in basements while parents were asleep upstairs.
Mr. Judge has disputed that anything like Dr. Blasey’s allegations ever took place. In an interview with The New York Times before her name became public, Mr. Judge described high school parties he attended as being mostly small, with seven or so people, saying they took place after football games in basements while parents were asleep upstairs.
“I never saw anything like that,” Mr. Judge said in the interview. “The way it was described is even bizarre, about turning up the music and all this other stuff. It’s no situation I recall ever being in.”“I never saw anything like that,” Mr. Judge said in the interview. “The way it was described is even bizarre, about turning up the music and all this other stuff. It’s no situation I recall ever being in.”
Mr. Judge suggested the allegations had been driven by politics. “Any intelligent person knows what’s motivating it,” he said.Mr. Judge suggested the allegations had been driven by politics. “Any intelligent person knows what’s motivating it,” he said.
Certain details of Dr. Blasey’s account — which describes a drunk Mr. Judge as a jumpy and at times conflicted accomplice to assault — are not necessarily at odds with his own broad portrait of high school years filled with binge drinking and accounts by former Georgetown Prep students who attended the all-boys school at the same time. Certain details of Dr. Blasey’s account resemble his own broad portrait of high school years filled with binge drinking and accounts by former Georgetown Prep students who attended the all-boys school at the same time.
Some former classmates of Judge Kavanaugh and Mr. Judge have said that aspects of Dr. Blasey’s recollections of Mr. Judge ring true. In their 1983 yearbook, a photo of football players in pads and uniform showed Mr. Judge and Judge Kavanaugh grinning side by side. The yearbook page for Mr. Judge mentions that he was a member of the club “100 KEGS or Bust” and includes the quotation, “Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs.”
The book describes a person named “Bart O’Kavanaugh” as having “puked in someone’s car the other night” and “passed out on his way back from a party.” A former classmate of Judge Kavanaugh’s said that the judge earned the nickname “Bart” after a Georgetown Prep teacher at his high school garbled his name. Some former classmates of the two men have said that aspects of Dr. Blasey’s recollections of Mr. Judge ring true.
The sworn affidavit by Ms. Swetnick paints a similar portrait of the two young men. The book describes a person named “Bart O’Kavanaugh” as having “puked in someone’s car the other night” and “passed out on his way back from a party.” A former classmate of Judge Kavanaugh’s said that the judge earned the nickname “Bart” after a Georgetown Prep teacher garbled his name.
In the statement posted on Twitter by her lawyer, Ms. Swetnick said that the pair were “attached to the hip” in high school and that she had observed them at parties where they would “drink excessively and engage in highly inappropriate conduct.” She said that at some parties, young women were plied with alcohol that was spiked with drugs and “gang raped.” She said she herself was raped. In the hearing on Thursday afternoon, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, pressed Judge Kavanaugh about the stories in “Wasted” and the character “Bart O’Kavanaugh.” Mr. Kavanaugh said that the book was a “fictionalized” account and that only Mr. Judge could answer whether “Bart O’Kavanaugh” was based on him.
A statement by Ms. Swetnick painted a similar portrait of the two young men as “attached to the hip” in high school and made allegations of parties where women were drugged and “gang raped.”
Ms. Swetnick has not been interviewed by journalists or offered corroboration of her account. On Wednesday, Mr. Judge denied her allegations through his lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder.Ms. Swetnick has not been interviewed by journalists or offered corroboration of her account. On Wednesday, Mr. Judge denied her allegations through his lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder.
Judge Kavanaugh was asked specifically about his high school parties with Mr. Judge in a Fox News interview on Monday night. Under questioning Thursday afternoon, Judge Kavanaugh said that he became friends with Mr. Judge starting in ninth grade and that they shared the same group of friends. Mr. Judge was popular in school, Judge Kavanaugh said, and a talented writer.
He did not mention Mr. Judge’s name but said there was never a party like the ones described by his accusers. “If such a thing had happened, it would have been the talk of campus,” he said in the interview. But Mr. Judge later developed a serious addiction that lasted decades, he said, and was near death a couple of times. He “suffered tremendously,” Judge Kavanaugh said, adding that they had not talked in several years but might have been included on mass emails sent among old friends.
Judge Kavanaugh said on Thursday afternoon that he became friends with Mr. Judge starting in ninth grade and that they shared the same group of friends. He was funny and popular in school, Judge Kavanaugh said, and a great writer.
But he later developed a serious addiction that lasted decades, he said, and was near death a couple of times. “Suffered tremendously,” Judge Kavanaugh said, adding that they had not talked in several years.
That same day, a reporter with The Washington Post found and photographed Mr. Judge in Bethany Beach, Del., where he had been staying at a friend’s house. A car outside contained clothing and a package addressed to him, The Post reported.
When Mr. Judge spotted the reporter, he said, “How did you find me?” He would not give an interview.