Profile picture
Judd Legum @JuddLegum
, 6 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
1. Kavanaugh has made some very strange choices in defending himself against allegations of sexual assault

Instead of simply maintaining his innocence, he has offered a series of wild and implausible explanations for his predicament

popular.info/p/kavanaughs-w…
2. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Kavanaugh claimed the two women accusing him of sexual assault were coordinating with each other.

This is an outlandish claim and he offered no evidence to support it

popular.info/p/kavanaughs-w…
3. In his Fox News interview, he repeated the theory that Ford may be confusing him with someone else who did assault her.

This echoes his friend Ed Whelan's irresponsible Twitter thread.

No explanation as to why he believes this

popular.info/p/kavanaughs-w…
4. When the NYT reported Kavanaugh & his football teammates referenced the "Renate Alumni" on their yearbook pages, Kavanaugh said it was a reference to a "kiss" w/a girl from a nearby school

It's implausible, but the woman also says she never kissed him

popular.info/p/kavanaughs-w…
5. In response to allegations by Deborah Ramirez, Kavanaugh told Fox: "The men I knew in college say it is inconceivable that I could have done such a thing"

His roommate that year says he believes Ramirez because Kavanaugh was often"incoherently drunk."

popular.info/p/kavanaughs-w…
6. More details on Kavanaugh's strange defense in my newsletter, Popular Information.

Sign up at popular.info.
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Judd Legum
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @JuddLegum see all

Profile picture
TRUMP: "At the request of Democrats it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall."

What Democrat has requested a border wall made of steel?
TRUMP: "The border wall would very quickly pay for itself."

Absolutely no evidence of this. Trump cites the cost of illegal drugs, most of which come through official ports of entry.
TRUMP: "The wall will also be paid for indirectly by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico."

This is not true. And the deal hasn't even been approved by Congress.
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
A total and humiliating capitation to a president with no interest in the truth.

The news media is supposed to inform the public.

They are now being used to disseminate government propaganda.
REMEMBER: When Obama wanted to address the nation on immigration, the networks refused to air it because they believe it would be "overtly political."

What a joke.

goo.gl/a8SSgT
The idea that a Democratic rebuttal or fact-checking will make this better is insulting.

If I break my arm and a doctor gives me a cast, I'm thankful.

If a doctor breaks my arm and hands me a band-aid, it's not a favor.
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
Any network that airs this live is knowingly participating in a disinformation campaign
Some conflicting info, but @JenniferJJacobs of Bloomberg says the networks will air this live

This show just how deeply the mainstream media misunderstands Trump and his tactics

@JenniferJJacobs This is what happened when Obama gave a primetime address on immigration in 2014
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Sexual assault is a crime and so is making a false allegation. Somehow, we always tend to presume innocence for men accused of sexual assault, but we never presume the innocence of women accused of making up a rape story. The due process argument is a sham.
What would due process really look like for all involved? A trauma-informed, sensitive investigation. We didn't get that with #Kavanaugh. We don't get it in most criminal cases of sexual assault.
But presuming that men accused of sexual assault are innocent? It isn't due process and it can't be. It threatens the due process rights of the women making sexual assault allegations.
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
This is a key point to jurists that I think many "civilians" don't quite get. We've gotten used to conflating ideology with party affiliation in the US, in an intellectually lazy way — but in the judicial branch, the distinction is CRITICAL. It's the only branch where ideas… /1
…still matter. Honest. Judges can range from liberal to conservative, or have philosophies of jurisprudence that fall into various recognized buckets, but they don't identify in a formal way as Democrats or Republicans. Leaning conservative in a way that supports GOP… /2
…policies, values, and initiatives is one thing. That's not what #Kavanaugh displayed last week. He identified the Democratic Party as his enemy, accusing it of orchestrating a campaign to sabotage him personally, even naming names (Clinton, incredibly) — and vowed payback /3
Read 19 tweets
Profile picture
As we move into the #Kavanaugh investigation, I want to have a chat about false allegations. From my experience, this is the #1 topic that is misunderstood by the general public and I want to address some of that confusion.
It's worth knowing that academics don't take "false allegations" too seriously. The reason for that is that they're really rare. False allegations of sexual assault are no more common that any other crime--and some studies have found that they're rarer. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…
And as a former victim advocate, I can say that false allegations are easier to root out than most people think. Details don't match up or stories are too perfect. The allegations fall apart easily and the accusers often come clean.
Read 15 tweets
Profile picture
Kavanaugh's furious performance before senators on Thursday reminds me of an exchange early in Plato's Republic. Both Kavanaugh's style and implicit message resemble those of Thrasymachus, Socrates' red-faced nemesis. He has dealt a huge blow to SCOTUS's legitimacy. 1/
Like Kavanaugh, Thrasymachus didn't really figure into the discussion at first. He sat off to the side while others discussed several accounts of the meaning of justice. But near the end of Book 1, ire growing, he "came at us like a wild beast, seeking to devour us" 2/
Thrasymachus thought the whole discussion of justice to be nonsense. There is no universal conception of the word to be found. Instead, he offered, "justice is the interest of the stronger". It's whatever serves those in power; it's what those in power say it is. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Profile picture
I'm a sociologist who studies adolescent sexual violence. On this thread, I will be live tweeting the #Kavanaugh hearing, chiming in with sociological insights and research findings.
Full disclosure--I will probably step away for parts of it. While many conservatives have cast feminists as people who rejoice at allegations of sexual assault against powerful men, this is a painful process for us. We know survivors. We are survivors. And I will need breaks.
It does not bode well that the beginning of this hearing is starting with equating #Kavanaugh and #Ford's experiences with harassment following Dr. Ford's allegations. They are absolutely not the same.
Read 115 tweets
Profile picture
COMEY MEMOS: (THREAD) Working my way through the 15 pages of #ComeyMemos. Here are the most important and/or shocking revelations: 1/
During #Comey's 1/6/17 at Trump Tower, @Comey told Trump that the Russians allegedly had tapes involving Trump & prostitutes at a Moscow hotel in 2013. Could these be the infamous #PeeTapes? #ComeyMemos 2/
Trump also praised #Comey on 1/6/17 for his handling of the #ClintonEmails investigation. @realDonaldTrump lavished praise on @Comey, indicating that Comey had conducted himself "honorably" and had a great reputation. #ComeyMemos 3/
Read 28 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Indivisible #DrFord #MerrickGarland #NutShellReport #July1st1982 #BillCosby #Kavanaugh #BrettKavanuagh #Putin #MarkJudge #Hypocrisy #HumaAbedin #RapeTrain #ANWR #rage #WalkAway #Flynn #1A #SCOTUS #TeamNutShellReport #DelayTheVote #Avenatti #GoldenShowers #PeeTapes #MeToo

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!