A prominent Republican operative on Sunday viciously attacked the credibility of Julie Swetnick, the third woman in recent weeks to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, calling her a “criminal” who should “go to prison.”
In a series of tweets, Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, slammed Swetnick, who alleges she witnessed Kavanaugh and one of his friends at several high school parties in the early 1980s getting “drunk” and “being overly aggressive with girls.”
Swetnick also alleges that Kavanaugh was present at a 1982 party where she was gang raped. She does not name him as one of her assailants. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied sexually assaulting anyone.
“This woman is a criminal,” Woodhouse tweeted Sunday, before claiming that Swetnick likely “lied to Congress” when her attorney Michael Avenatti, best known as the lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, sent her sworn declaration on the alleged incident to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
“She should go to prison, period,” Woodhouse tweeted. “And Judge Kavanaugh should sue both the woman and her attorney, in civil court.”
Woodhouse later tweeted that his aggressive posts applied only to Swetnick ― not to Christine Blasey Ford or Deborah Ramirez, who have alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted them in high school and college, respectively.
“I do stand with all victims of sexual assault,” Woodhouse tweeted, adding, “However this ONE woman told her story UNDER Oath, that nobody thinks could possibly happen. It is literally impossible.”
Avenatti on Monday called Woodhouse’s comments “completely irresponsible and ignorant.”
“The most blatant example of shaming a sexual assault victim yet,” Avenatti told HuffPost in an email. “He should resign his post immediately ― this isn’t the 1940s.”
Woodhouse quickly fired back at Avenatti’s resignation call.
A representative for the North Carolina Republican Party did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
Swetnick and Avenatti have stood by her accusations, despite significant skepticism from several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were unable to corroborate Swetnick’s allegations, and her ex-husband has criticized her credibility since she came forward in September. Still, Avenatti described his client’s accusations as “shocking” but “true” in a phone call to ABC’s “The View” last week.
“My client stands behind them 100 percent,” Avenatti said. “And she’s looking forward to having an opportunity to meet with one or more FBI agents, hopefully, and describe what happened.”
Last week the FBI opened an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. Avenatti told HuffPost that the agency had not yet reached out to Swetnick as of Monday afternoon.