The New York Times was forced to issue a significant correction Sunday to its “bombshell” report on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after being called out by other journalists for excluding exculpatory evidence from their initial report. President Trump, who blasted the initial report, unloaded on the paper again early Monday, pointing to the forced correction and its “assault” on the conservative justice as another example of how the left-leaning mainstream is “working with their partner, the Dems,” to push a political agenda rather than reporting the facts.
On Saturday, The New York Times published a report on Kavanaugh accuser Deborah Ramirez’s “Yale experience” which has inspired outrage from Democrats and calls from the Left for the impeachment of Kavanaugh. In the report, the Times cites former classmate, Max Stier, who told the Times’ Kate Kelly and Robin Pogebrin, who are writing a book about Kavanaugh’s accusers, that Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and exposed himself at a college party while other classmates supposedly grabbed Kavanaugh’s penis and pushed it into the hand of a female victim.
“A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student,” the Times reports. “Mr. Stier, who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account, but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly.”
After being called out for leaving out key information from the story, the Times was forced to issue a correction on Sunday acknowledging that the alleged female victim, Tracy Harmon, declined to be interviewed and her friends “say that she does not recall the incident.”
“An earlier version of this article, which was adapted from a forthcoming book, did not include one element of the book’s account regarding an assertion by a Yale classmate that friends of Brett Kavanaugh pushed his penis into the hand of a female student at a drunken dorm party,” the Times says in the correction. “The book reports that the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident. That information has been added to the article.” The text of the report now notes that “the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say she does not recall the episode.”
In response, Trump posted a series of tweets Monday slamming the Times and the rest of the “horrible” people in the “lamestream media” for letting their agenda trample their journalistic integrity.
“‘The New York Times walks back report on Kavanaugh assault claim,”‘ Trump tweeted, citing “Fox and Friends.” “The one who is actually being assaulted is Justice Kavanaugh — Assaulted by lies and Fake News!” he added. “This is all about the LameStream Media working with their partner, the Dems.”
Trump then quoted Dan Bongino: “What’s happening to Justice Kavanaugh is a disgrace. This guy is not a good man, he is a great man. He has to go to his church with his family while these terrible reports are being written about him, a disgrace!”
The president then added a follow-up tweet slamming the “horrible people” in the media and, again, urging Kavanaugh to sue. “Just Out: ‘Kavanaugh accuser doesn’t recall incident.’ @foxandfriends DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE WILL DO OR SAY. They are looking to destroy, and influence his opinions — but played the game badly,” he wrote. “They should be sued!”
As more reports pointing out the Times’ failure to disclose the denial of the alleged victim began to surface on Sunday, Trump encouraged Kavanaugh to sue the paper for defamation.
“Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False Accusations without recrimination. When does it stop? They are trying to influence his opinions. Can’t let that happen!”
“Can’t let Brett Kavanaugh give Radical Left Democrat (Liberal Plus) Opinions based on threats of Impeaching him over made up stories (sound familiar?), false allegations, and lies,” Trump added. “This is the game they play. Fake and Corrupt News is working overtime! #ProtectKavanaugh.”
Among those who called out the Times for neglecting to include key information is JCN’s Carrie Severino, who tweeted early Sunday, “This is the blockbuster ‘new allegation’ against Kavanaugh. Except it’s not actually new. It was shopped to Senate Democrats at the time and they apparently found it impossible to nail down, so they ignored it — the same Senators who found the ‘rape boat’ allegations plausible.”
“Neither do Kelly and Pogrebin nail it down. Not only does the alleged victim not confirm the story, she is reported to be denying it,” Severino added. “(Their description of Stier as a ‘respected thought leader’ and BK classmate overlooks another time his paths crossed Kavanaugh’s: he was a member of Bill Clinton’s defense team back during the Lewinsky investigation.)”
Related:
New York Times Deletes Tweet About Brett Kavanaugh’s ‘Penis’
Trump: NYT Just Admitted What I’ve Been Saying All Along About Their Anti-Trump Agenda
This article has been revised for clarity.