Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Friday referred a woman who made false allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh to the Department of Justice and the FBI for investigation.
Today, Chairman @ChuckGrassley referred Judy Munro-Leighton to @TheJusticeDept for investigation for making materially false statements to the Committee during the course of its investigation. https://t.co/pNfhLRnETy
— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) November 2, 2018
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Grassley said that Judy Munro-Leighton should be investigated for making materially false statements and for obstruction.
In a telephone conversation with committee investigators on Thursday, Munro-Leighton confessed that her email claiming to be the “Jane Doe” who accused Kavanaugh of rape was made “to get attention” and was just a “tactic” and a “ploy.”
The Judiciary Committee chairman wrote that on Sept. 25, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) forwarded a letter from a “Jane Doe” to committee investigators, claiming that Kavanaugh and a friend had raped her “several times each” in the “backseat of a car.”
Grassley wrote that the committee initially investigated her allegation even though it came “from an anonymous accuser” with “no return address,” “timeframe,” or “location” of the alleged assaults.
Justice Kavanaugh, when confronted with the allegation, told committee investigators, “The whole thing is ridiculous. Nothing ever — anything like that, nothing…. The whole thing is just a crock, farce, wrong, didn’t happen, not anything close,” according to the letter.
On October 3, Munro-Leighton sent an email to committee staff identifying herself. The subject line of the email read, “I am Jane Doe from Oceanside CA — Kavanaugh raped me.”
Grassley said Munro-Leighton wrote that she was “sharing with you the story of the night that Brett Kavanaugh and his friend sexually assaulted and raped me in his car” and referred to “the letter that I sent to Sen. Kamala Harris on Sept. 19 with details of this vicious assault.” She continued: “I know that [Jane Doe] will get no media attention, but I am deathly afraid of revealing any information about myself or my family.”
Included in the email was a typed version of the Jane Doe letter, according to Grassley.
Subsequently, committee investigators began looking into Munro-Leighton’s allegations.
Grassley said that investigators were able to quickly determine three things about the accuser, given her “relatively unique name.” They found that she “(1) is a left-wing activist; (2) is decades older than Judge Kavanaugh; and (3) lives in neither the Washington DC area nor California, but in Kentucky.”
The accuser had claimed to be from Oceanside, California. Grassley said committee investigators attempted to reach Munro-Leighton by phone on October 3, but were unsuccessful. They tried again on October 29, leaving a voicemail.
Incredibly, Munro-Leighton responded with a voicemail to the Judiciary Committee on November 1, 2018, and the two parties were able to be connected later that day.
Under questioning by Committee investigators, Ms.Munro-Leighton admitted, contrary to her prior claims, that she had not been sexually assaulted by Judge Kavanaugh and was not the author of the original “Jane Doe” letter. When directly asked by Committee investigators if she was, as she had claimed, the “Jane Doe” from Oceanside California who had sent the letter to Senator Harris, she admitted: “No, no, no. I did that as a way to grab attention. I am not Jane Doe … but I did read Jane Doe’s letter. I read the transcript of the call to your Committee… I saw it online. It was news.”
The “explosive” letter was indeed disseminated throughout the media on October 2, 2018.
She admitted to committee investigators that she “just wanted to get attention” and that “it was a tactic” and “a ploy,” according to Grassley. She also told committee investigators that she had called Congress multiple times during the Kavanaugh confirmation process to oppose his nomination.
Regarding the false sexual-assault allegation she made via her email to the committee, she said: “I was angry, and I sent it out.” When asked whether she had ever met Judge Kavanaugh, she answered, “Oh Lord, no.”
In the letter, Grassley pointed out that Munro-Leighton’s false allegation was a waste of the committee’s time and diverted their resources. “When individuals intentionally mislead the Committee, they divert Committee resources during time-sensitive investigations and materially impede our work,” Grassley stated. “Such acts are not only unfair; they are potentially illegal.”
The Iowa senator concluded: “It is illegal to make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements to Congressional investigators. It is illegal to obstruct Committee investigations. Accordingly, in light of the seriousness of these facts, and the threat these types of actions pose to the Committee’s ability to perform its constitutional duties, I hope you will give this referral the utmost consideration. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.”
The letter from Grassley to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray includes copies of the original written letter and the email exchange between Munro-Leighton and committee staff.
Below is Munro-Leighton’s email to the Judiciary Committee:
To all Republican Senators, 10/3/18:
My name is Jane Doe, from Oceanside CA. I am sharing with you the story of the night that Brett Kavanaugh and his friend sexually assaulted and raped me in his car. Here is the letter that I sent to Sen. Kamala Harris on Sept. 19 with details of this vicious assault. The Senate Judiciary Comm had a phone interview on Sept. 26 with Kavanaugh to ask him about my letter.
I refuse to allow Donald J. Trump to use me or my story as an ugly chant at one of his Republican rallies. I know that Jane Doe will get no media attention, but I am deathly afraid of revealing any information about myself or my family.
I watched in horror as Trump vilified Dr. Blasey-Ford. I will not allow this abuse to be directed toward me.
Munro-Leighton attached a copy of the orignal Jane Doe letter:
Dear Senator Grassley, et al.
The current situation regarding the accusations made by Dr. Ford against Brett Kavanaugh have prompted me to write you today. I have moved on with my life since he forced himself on me as well. The times were so different, and I didn’t expect to be taken seriously, embarrass my family, be believed at all. I was at a party with a friend. I had been drinking. She left with another boy, leaving me to find my own way home. Kavanaugh and a friend offered me a ride home. I don’t know the other boy’s name. I was in his car to go home. His friend was behind me in the backseat. Kavanaugh kissed me forcefully.
I told him I only wanted a ride home. Kavanaugh continued to grope me over my clothes, forcing his kisses on me and putting his hand under my sweater. ‘No,’ I yelled at him. The boy in the backseat reached around, putting his hand over my mouth and holding my arm to keep me in the car. I screamed into his hand. Kavanaugh continued his forcing himself on me. He pulled up my sweater and bra exposing my breasts, and reached into my panties, inserting his fingers into my vagina. My screams were silenced by the boy in the backseat covering my mouth and groping me as well. Kavanaugh slapped me and told me to be quiet and forced me to perform oral sex on him. He climaxed in my mouth. They forced me to go into the backseat and took turns raping me several times each.
They dropped me off two blocks from my home. ‘No one will believe if you tell. Be a good girl,’ he told me. Watching what has happened to Anita Hill and Dr. Ford has me petrified to come forward in person or even provide my name. A group of white men, powerful senators who won’t believe me, will come after me. Like Dr. Ford, I’m a teacher, I have an education, a family, a child, a home. I have credibility. Just because something happens a long time ago, because a rape victim doesn’t want to personally come forward, does not mean something can’t be true.
Jane Doe, Oceanside, California.
Judy Munro-Leighton claimed to be the author of an anonymous allegation regarding Justice Kavanaugh originally sent to Senator Harris. When questioned by committee investigators, she admitted to having fabricated that claim.-Senate Judiciary Spokesman #Kavanaugh pic.twitter.com/BPmgEQmD5c
— Mike Emanuel 🇺🇸 (@MikeEmanuelFox) November 2, 2018
Join the conversation as a VIP Member