The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing allegations by a third woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, a panel spokesman said Wednesday, in yet another potential blow to his prospects for Senate confirmation.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing allegations by a third woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, a panel spokesman said Wednesday, in yet another potential blow to his prospects for Senate confirmation.

As in the allegations by his two previous accusers, the latest incidents are alleged to have occurred decades ago. In a three-page sworn declaration, Julie Swetnick of Washington, D.C., says she witnessed Kavanaugh “consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s.” Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, posted the declaration on Twitter and provided it to the committee.

Kavanaugh denied her allegations as he has the others. President Donald Trump tweeted that Avenatti was a “third-rate lawyer” pushing “false accusations.” He has described the previous allegations as a Democratic “con job.”

The new development came a day before Trump’s nominee and his first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are to testify to the Judiciary Committee in what looms as a critical moment in the 53-year-old conservative jurist’s quest to join the high court. As of now, Republicans controlling that panel have announced no plans to focus Thursday’s session on the claims of the two other women.

In fact, the committee is expecting to push ahead on a vote recommending confirmation with a roll call by the full Senate early next week.

“This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened,” he said.

The committee also released a two-page prepared statement from Kavanaugh for Thursday’s hearing in which he “categorically and unequivocally” denies Ford’s allegation. She has said he forced her into a room at a high school party, held her on a bed and tried removing her clothes as he muffled her mouth with his hands. Ford says she eventually escaped.

Kavanaugh’s written testimony for the committee went a bit further than the description of his youthful behavior he gave in a Fox News Channel interview Monday, when he said “people” may have drunk too much at high school parties.

“I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends. Sometimes I had too many. In retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now,” Kavanaugh said.

He also provided the committee with detailed calendar pages listing in green-and-white squares the activities that filled his summer of 1982 when he was 17 years old — exams, movies, sports and plenty of parties.

That’s the year when Ford says she believes the assault occurred.

The May through August pages mention several parties at various houses and also a beach week, highlighted in all caps, the week after Kavanaugh’s exams. Nothing on the calendar appears to mention Ford, who has said she was a “friendly acquaintance” of Kavanaugh’s at the time.

Swetnick, the third accuser, made other accusations in her statement. The Associated Press has not been able to corroborate them, and continues to investigate.

In an interview with the AP, Avenatti said he would not provide additional details about Swetnick’s allegations, saying they want to see an FBI investigation. He said they expect to release additional names and evidence in “coming weeks.”

Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, who alleges she was paid to keep a sexual relationship with Trump quiet. The publicity-friendly attorney has said he’s considering competing for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on Kavanaugh for Friday, just a day after the hearing, though it has said it might be delayed. But Senate leaders have laid plans for lawmakers to stay in session this weekend to take procedural votes that would lead to a final confirmation vote early next week.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally, warned Republicans not to “bail out” on Kavanaugh.

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it just did,” he said in a written statement. “The lawyer to porn stars has just taken this debacle to an even lower level.”

No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn said the Judiciary panel had asked for interviews and information on new accusations, but he didn’t indicate the hearing or planned votes would be delayed.

“The longer this nomination sits out there the more you’re going to get reckless allegations that have no basis in fact,” he said.

On the other side, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Kavanaugh should withdraw his nomination.

Hanging in the balance is Trump’s chance to swing the high court more firmly to the right for a generation. Despite Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s forecast that Republicans will win, Kavanaugh’s fate remains uncertain in a chamber where Republicans have a scant 51-49 majority.

Earlier Wednesday, Ford’s lawyers said they’d given the Judiciary committee sworn statements from four people who say Ford told them well before Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the court this summer that she had been sexually assaulted when she was much younger. According to all four, she either named Kavanaugh as the assailant or described the attacker as a “federal judge.”

Those documents could have weight because people who Ford has said were at the party she’s described have not corroborated her account.

In one statement, family friend Keith Koegler said he wrote to Ford in a June 29 email, “I remember you telling me about him, but I don’t remember his name. Do you mind telling me so I can read about him?”

“Brett Kavanaugh,” Ford responded by email, according to Koegler, her son’s baseball team coach.

Ford’s husband, Russell Ford, stated that he became aware around the time the couple wed in 2002 that his wife had “any experience with sexual assault,” but she provided no details at the time. In 2012 during a couples therapy session, he says, she revealed that in high school she had been “trapped in a room and physically restrained by one boy who was molesting her while another boy watched.” He says she named the attacker as Kavanaugh.

The subject came up again when Trump was considering his first Supreme Court nominee, who ended up being Justice Neil Gorsuch. Before the selection, Ford had told her husband that she was afraid the president might nominate Kavanaugh. The matter came up again when Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement and Trump had a second seat to fill.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell will be brought in to handle questioning of Kavanaugh and Ford. Mitchell comes from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, where she is the chief of the Special Victims Division, which covers sex crimes and family violence. </s> A second woman came forward Sunday with new allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, claiming the judge exposed himself to her and thrust his penis in her face during a party when they were students at Yale University.

Deborah Ramirez, 53, told The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer that she was at a dorm room party with Kavanaugh and several other students during Yale’s 1983-84 school year. Ramirez said the group was playing a drinking game and she became inebriated. Later in the evening she was on the floor and remembered a “penis being in front” of her face before she pushed the person away, causing her to touch it. She said she recalled Kavanaugh standing next to her, laughing and pulling up his pants. Another student then yelled down the hall: “Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie’s face.“

She noted that there are large gaps in her memory and said she was hesitant to come forward, afraid that she would be attacked because she had been drinking at the time. But Ramirez said her experience, along with that of Christine Blasey Ford, would warrant an FBI investigation into the nominee’s behavior.

Kavanaugh denied the claims in a statement to the outlet, saying the event “from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple.”

White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec rejected Ramirez’s allegations, telling The New Yorker they are the latest in a “coordinated smear campaign.” A spokesperson for The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on Sunday evening.

The New Yorker said it was unable to independently confirm if Kavanaugh was at the party, but interviewed several of Ramirez’s classmates who recalled being told about the incident in vague terms within days of it allegedly happening. Several others disputed the claims, saying the behavior was “completely out of character for Brett.”

The outlet also noted that senior Republican aides learned of Ramirez’s claims last week, telling the outlet that they worried about its impact on the Kavanaugh’s nomination. Shortly thereafter, some GOP Senators publicly expressed their desire to quickly move forward on the nomination.

In a subsequent statement Sunday evening, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said the committee’s majority staff learned about the new allegations from the New Yorker report. He said that Senate Democrats had “actively withheld information from the rest of the Committee only to drop information at politically opportune moments.”

The Ramirez claims are the latest in a whirlwind week of allegations against the Supreme Court’s nominee.

Blasey, a psychologist working in Northern California, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party in the 1980s when they were both in high school. In an interview with The Washington Post, Blasey said a “stumbling drunk” Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and attempted to take off her clothing before she was able to escape.

Kavanaugh has roundly denied the allegations.

Blasey’s legal team said Sunday that she had agreed to speak with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday after days of heated negotiations.

“Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for Senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her,” her attorneys said in a statement.

The New Yorker piece also included serious allegations against Mark Judge, a classmate of Kavanaugh’s who came to the nominee’s defense after Blasey first went public with her own allegations. Elizabeth Rasor, a former girlfriend of Judge’s, said that the man was lying when he claimed that there was no “horseplay” culture at Georgetown Prep, the high school both Judge and Kavanaugh attended.

Rasor claimed that at one point during her three-year relationship with Judge, he told her of an incident where he and others had sex with an inebriated woman. His lawyer said Judge “categorically denies” the allegations.

Judge has refused to testify at any Senate hearing, although some have been urging the committee to issue a subpoena.

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who represents the adult film star Stormy Daniels and is a vocal critic of the Trump administration, leveled his own accusations at Kavanaugh in a tweet late Sunday showing what appeared to be a screenshot of an email he sent to the chief counsel for nominations to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the email, the lawyer said that he claimed to have “significant evidence” that Kavanaugh and a friend from high school, Mark Judge, participated in “targeting” women at house parties with “alcohol/drugs.”

Avenatti did not specify the nature of Kavanaugh’s involvement or cite evidence for these assertions in his tweet, but said he would be releasing evidence to both the public and lawmakers “in the coming days.” HuffPost also reached out to the White House about Avenatti’s claims.

Trump has supported his nominee throughout the allegations, and used a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday to praise Kavanaugh as a “great gentleman” he called “one of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing.” He also roundly attacked Blasey, questioning why she didn’t step forward with her claims earlier.

Nearly two-thirds of people who are raped or sexually assaulted do not go to the police at all, according to U.S. Department of Justice figures.

This article has been updated to include Michael Avenatti’s accusations and a statment from Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses him of sexually assaulting her decades ago (all times local):

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is denying a second allegation of sexual misconduct.

The White House released a statement from the nominee Sunday after the allegations in a New Yorker article in which a woman, Deborah Rodriguez, a former Yale classmate, alleged he exposed himself and thrust his penis in her face during a drunken dormitory party.

Kavanaugh says the event “did not happen” and that the allegation is “a smear, plain and simple.”

A White House spokeswoman adds in a second statement that the allegation is “designed to tear down a good man.”

Kavanaugh is slated to testify Thursday about the first allegation of sexual assault, dating back from a high school party more than 35 years ago. His accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is also set to testify.

The New Yorker magazine is reporting that Senate Democrats are investigating a second woman’s accusation of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh from his teenage years.

In a story posted Sunday night on its website, The New Yorker reports that the claim dates to the 1983-84 academic year, Kavanaugh’s freshman year at Yale University.

The New Yorker identifies the woman as 53-year-old Deborah Ramirez. The magazine says she described the incident in an interview after being contacted by the magazine.

The magazine says Ramirez remembers that Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.

In a statement provided by the White House, Kavanaugh denies the event ever happened.

After days of negotiations, the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman, Christine Blasey Ford, who says he sexually assaulted her as a teenager.

The two have agreed to a date and time after nearly a week of uncertainty over whether Ford would appear at all. The agreement sets the stage for a dramatic showdown as Kavanaugh and Ford each tell their side of the story.

The hearing will also determine the fate of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which hangs on the votes of a handful of senators. It had seemed assured before the 51-year-old California college professor went public a week ago with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party when they were in high school.

Top Democrats are asking President Donald Trump again to direct the FBI to investigate Christine Blasey Ford’s claim that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when both were teenagers.

Trump and Senate Republicans have repeatedly said an investigation is not necessary. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, sent a letter to Trump on Sunday saying the FBI has more than enough time before Ford and Kavanaugh testify on Thursday.

Schumer and Feinstein write that Trump’s comments this past week about getting to the bottom of the charges is “is merely lip service unless you are willing to direct the FBI to investigate.”

Senate Judiciary Committee staff have written lawyers for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, and said they would do everything they could to “provide a safe, comfortable, and dignified forum” for her testimony Thursday. But they also say the committee will decide who testifies, in what order and how they will be questioned.

In an email exchange between the committee and Ford’s lawyers obtained by The Associated Press, a counsel for Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley wrote that the terms over which witnesses to call and questioning are “non-negotiable.” Ford’s lawyers asked for several conditions surrounding her testimony.

Davis wrote that they would hold the hearing in the Judiciary panel’s regular hearing room, which is small. He said that was to avoid a “circus” atmosphere.

A spokesman for the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is confirming that the committee will hold a public hearing Thursday on the sexual assault allegation that’s been made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

That word comes from Taylor Foy, an aide to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, soon after lawyers for Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford said in a statement that they were “committed to moving forward with an open hearing” on that day.

The Ford lawyers’ statement also said further details about the upcoming hearing are still to be worked out.

At issue is Ford’s accusation stemming from an incident she says took place when she and Kavanaugh were teenagers.

Attorneys for Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are citing “important progress” on a high-stakes public hearing to air out her decades-old sexual assault claim against the Supreme Court nominee.

Her attorneys say they have committed to a 10 a.m. hearing on Thursday and accept the committee’s decision not to subpoena Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford asserts was present when the incident occurred.

But they say the Republican-controlled Senate panel hasn’t said who will be asking questions of her and Kavanaugh. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s 11 Republicans — all men — have been seeking an outside female attorney to interrogate Ford.

Ford’s attorneys say the committee has not indicated when they will respond, but said the remaining “procedural and logistical issues” will “not impede the hearing taking place.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham says Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser will be treated “respectfully” by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but both witnesses “will be challenged” over the sexual assault allegation from decades ago she’s made against the Supreme Court nominee.

Talks continue between the GOP-run committee and Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyer over details of a tentative agreement for a hearing Thursday.

Graham says Ford’s lawyers are contesting two conditions for her testimony — that Ford and Kavanaugh will be the only witnesses and that an independent counsel will ask the questions.

The South Carolina Republican tells “Fox News Sunday” that “I hope she comes. I will listen if she does.”

But he adds that “unless there’s something more” to back up her accusation, he’s “not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.”

A Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee says Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser deserves a fair hearing to determine whether her allegations of sexual assault are “serious” enough to vote down his Supreme Court nomination.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, acknowledged that lawmakers will “probably not” be able to know the truth of Christine Blasey Ford’s decades-old allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a house party when they were teenagers.

Durbin indicated that Democrats are likely to ask about Kavanaugh’s drinking history because Ford has alleged Kavanaugh was “stumbling drunk” when it happened.

Durbin told ABC’s “This Week” that some Republicans “reached out to Democratic senators and assured them that they are looking to this as kind of a determination as to how their final vote” on Kavanaugh is cast.

Talks are set to continue on tentative agreement for a Thursday hearing for Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegation that the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her decades ago.

Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford and representatives of the committee came to the tentative agreement late Saturday. Kavanaugh also is set to appear at the hearing.

Some details, such as the order of their testimony, are being negotiated, and talks are expected to continue Sunday. </s> WASHINGTON — A second woman has come forward alleging sexual misconduct by embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, days before his scheduled testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to a previous allegation of sexual assault.

Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale University with Kavanaugh, told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and exposed himself to her while they were classmates there.

“I remember a penis being in front of my face,” said Ramirez, who says she had been drinking. “I knew that's not what I wanted, even in that state of mind.”

She told the magazine that she pushed the person away.

“I was embarrassed and ashamed and humiliated,” she said. She added that she recalled Kavanaugh next to her, pulling up his pants. “Brett was laughing,” she said. “I can still see his face, and his hips coming forward, like when you pull up your pants.... Somebody yelled down the hall, ‘Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie’s face,’” she said. “It was his full name. I don’t think it was just ‘Brett.’ And I remember hearing and being mortified that this was out there.”

In the last week, three sources familiar with the accusation told NBC about Ramirez's accusation. Ramirez, 53, is the same age as Kavanaugh and they both graduated from the university in 1987. Her sister Denise Ramirez was a year behind them at Yale.

Ramirez, who is now married and lives in Boulder, Colorado, is a volunteer and board member at a nonprofit group that helps victims of domestic violence, Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence. Ramirez referred NBC on Saturday to her lawyer, Stanley Garnett, who did not respond to requests for comment through the weekend.

The latest accusation comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to hear on Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when both were in high school. Earlier Saturday, Ford conditionally agreed to testify before the committee next week, though her attorneys indicated that several details surrounding her appearance were still being negotiated. Kavanaugh has already agreed to testify at the hearing, which had originally been scheduled for Monday.

Minutes after the release of The New Yorker's report, the White House released a pair of statements denying the claim.

“This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen," said Kavanaugh. "The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name — and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building — against these last-minute allegations.”

“This 35-year-old, uncorroborated claim is the latest in a coordinated smear campaign by the Democrats designed to tear down a good man," said White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec. "This claim is denied by all who were said to be present and is wholly inconsistent with what many women and men who knew Judge Kavanaugh at the time in college say. The White House stands firmly behind Judge Kavanaugh.”

The news comes at a critical moment for Kavanaugh's already-troubled nomination. Most Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have stood by Kavanaugh, but a handful of GOP senators — including several who have not yet pledged public support for his nomination — have expressed concern over Ford's allegations, and said her allegations could affect their support.

Trump, who has also faced accusations of sexual assault, stepped up his defense of Kavanaugh on Friday, questioning the legitimacy of Ford’s account in a series of tweets.

The president's comments have complicated Republican messaging as lawmakers look to avoid attacking Ford, an attempt to avoid a repeat of the Anita Hill hearings — the image of a panel of men aggressively questioning a woman's allegations against a high court nominee.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a potential swing vote on Kavanaugh, said Friday she was “appalled” by Trump’s tweets. Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., are also critical votes. For Kavanaugh to be confirmed, Republicans can only afford to lose the support of two GOP members, if all Democrats oppose the nomination. Flake tweeted on Saturday that it was “good” that Ford had agreed to testify next week.

Kavanaugh’s troubled confirmation bid complicates midterm campaigning, with Election Day just six weeks away. Instead of focusing on an improving economy, Republicans, especially those running in competitive suburban House districts, have grappled with the fallout of ongoing chaos in Washington, with Kavanaugh's stalled nomination just the latest exhibit.

For the handful of Democratic senators running for re-election in red states, the impact of the Kavanaugh confirmation process has been unclear, with the nominee equally likely to serve as a motivating factor for voters on both the right and the left. Kavanaugh is the most unpopular Supreme Court nominee since 2005, according to NBC News polling — more unpopular than Harriet Miers, who was nominated by President George W. Bush but ultimately withdrew under criticism over her qualifications.

In an NBC News poll released on Thursday, Kavanaugh was supported by fewer people than opposed him, the first time a nominee has registered less support than opposition in that survey. While 34 percent of respondents support his nomination, 38 percent oppose it. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into at least one additional allegation of misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, NBC News reported on Wednesday.

According to an anonymous complaint in a letter sent to Republican Senator Cory Gardner, Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman he socialized with in the Washington area in 1998 while he was inebriated, NBC News said, citing the letter and multiple people familiar with the process.

Kavanaugh denied the allegation in the letter during a call on Tuesday with committee staff, NBC News said, citing unnamed sources. </s> Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is expected to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to address one of two allegations of sexual assault leveled against him.

His accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, agreed to appear before the committee the same day to testify about the alleged assault, which she said took place during a high school party. A second person stepped forward to accuse Kavanaugh of an assault while in college.

Here's a breakdown of the key figures in the allegations against Kavanaugh.

In this file photo taken on Sept. 4, 2018, Judge Brett Kavanaugh looks on during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Christine Blasey Ford. The psychology researcher and professor at Palo Alto University in California said that during a party in 1982, while both were in high school, Kavanaugh held her down and forcibly tried to remove her clothing. Kavanaugh denied the accusation. Ford agreed to testify before the Senate on Thursday.

Deborah Ramirez. A former classmate of Kavanaugh's when both attended Yale University alleged in an article published by The New Yorker that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party. Ramirez said the incident left her "embarrassed and ashamed and humiliated." Kavanaugh denied the allegation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 21, 2018. Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford are scheduled to testify about Ford's sexual assault allegation in the room on Sept. 27, 2018.

Mark Judge. A classmate of Kavanaugh's at Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland, was accused by Ford of being in the room, watching and laughing during the alleged assault. Ford said Judge inadvertently helped her escape by jumping on top of her and Kavanaugh, knocking them off the bed. Judge's writings during high school – including a yearbook quote that read, "Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs" – have been scrutinized.

Michael Avenatti. The attorney representing Stormy Daniels in her case against President Donald Trump over alleged "hush money" said in a series of tweets that he represents a third woman with "information" on Kavanaugh. He specified the woman was not Ramirez.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein. California's senior senator, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, received a letter July 30 from Ford detailing the accusations against Kavanaugh. Feinstein waited until Kavanaugh's initial Supreme Court confirmation hearings ended before handing the letter over to authorities and Congress. Feinstein said she wanted to honor Ford's request for confidentiality. In an interview with The Washington Post, Ford said she did not want to identify herself over fears of what the revelation would do to her and her family.

Sen. Chuck Grassley. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman has the final word on how the nomination process is handled.Over the past week, the Iowa Republican's team and Ford's attorneys negotiated the details of Ford's testimony before Congress.

More: What we know about Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault

More: Analysis: Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation sets up a high-stakes trade-off for the GOP </s> The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing a statement from a third woman who has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The allegations, from a woman identified as Julie Swetnick, were made public by attorney Michael Avenatti on Wednesday morning.

NPR is not reporting some of the details involved in the allegations; attempts to contact Swetnick had not succeeded on Wednesday morning.

Kavanaugh has denied all accusations of sexual misconduct.

"This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone," he said in a statement released by the White House. "I don't know who this is and this never happened."

President Trump, who nominated Kavanaugh, fired back on Twitter against Avenatti, who has become a political enemy since his suit against Trump on behalf of porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court once appeared to be a sure thing. Those prospects now are left uncertain.

In the sworn declaration posted on Twitter, Swetnick alleges that from 1981 to 1983, she was at several parties that Kavanaugh also attended.

Swetnick writes that she observed Kavanaugh drunk, press himself against girls without their consent and engage in other such behavior. Swetnick writes that she was raped at one party that Kavanaugh attended.

Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy said in a statement that the panel has received Swetnick's statement and is looking into the allegations.

"This morning Michael Avenatti provided a declaration to the Judiciary committee," Foy said. "Committee lawyers are in the process of reviewing it now."

The committee's minority Democrats, led by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, asked Trump on Wednesday to either direct the FBI to investigate the allegations or withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination.

Kavanaugh has been asked before about the culture of partying and drinking from his high school days.

"That's totally false and outrageous," he told Fox News on Monday. "I've never done any such thing, known about any such thing."

Separately, the Judiciary Committee posted a statement from Kavanaugh on Wednesday morning in which he acknowledged partying but no sexual impropriety.

"I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends," he wrote. "Sometimes I had too many. In retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now. But that's not why we are here today. What I've been accused of is far more serious than juvenile misbehavior."

Some of Kavanaugh's classmates have told other news organizations they recall a different person from the early and mid-1980s in high school and college.

Sure thing no more

Swetnick's allegations follow those of two other women who have said they were victims of sexual misconduct involving Kavanaugh decades ago, when they and he were in high school or college.

The charges have disrupted what had appeared to be a sure confirmation for Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court following his hearings before the Judiciary Committee, which took place before the sexual misconduct allegations became public.

The allegations that appeared on Wednesday further complicate a much-anticipated hearing scheduled for Thursday with Kavanaugh and another of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford.

Opponents of Kavanaugh have called for the Judiciary Committee to hear testimony from other accusers; Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has so far not agreed.

One question raised by Swetnick's charges on Wednesday was whether she might also appear or whether Grassley might delay the hearing.

Democrats argued that the new allegations mean Republicans must suspend Kavanaugh's confirmation process. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he thought the judge should bow out.

"I strongly believe Judge Kavanaugh should withdraw from consideration," he said. "If he will not, at the very least, the hearing and vote should be postponed while the FBI investigates all of these allegations. If our Republican colleagues proceed without an investigation, it would be a travesty for the honor of the Supreme Court and our country."

It wasn't clear how Avenatti had become involved with the Kavanaugh case, but he has spent months cutting out a role for himself as an antagonist of the president.

He sued on behalf of Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, to escape a nondisclosure agreement she signed with Trump's then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. That kept alive Daniels' account of a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, a story which Cohen has acknowledged paying her to not tell ahead of Election Day in 2016.

Daniels also is telling her story in a book scheduled to be published this autumn.

Trump has acknowledged payments to women ahead of the election but denies their underlying allegations about sexual relationships.

Avenatti also surfaced business relationships that Cohen forged with corporate clients early in the Trump administration — he was paid because he said he could provide access to Trump for companies such as AT&T and Novartis. </s> The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing a statement from a third woman who has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The allegations, from a woman identified as Julie Swetnick, were made public by attorney Michael Avenatti on Wednesday morning.

NPR has not corroborated the claims; attempts to contact Swetnick had not succeeded on Wednesday morning.

Kavanaugh has denied all accusations of sexual misconduct.

"This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone," he said in a statement released by the White House. "I don't know who this is and this never happened."

President Trump, who nominated Kavanaugh, said during his visit to the United Nations on Wednesday that the accusations are "ridiculous" and repeated his counter-accusation that Democrats are playing a "con game."

Kavanaugh is a "high quality person," Trump said. "It's a horrible con game. I think the people are finding it out. And hopefully for the next couple of days it will be settled up and solved, and we will have a Supreme Court justice who will go down as our greatest ever."

Trump also fired back on Twitter against Avenatti, who has become a political enemy since his suit against Trump on behalf of porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court once appeared to be a sure thing. Those prospects now are left uncertain.

In the sworn declaration posted on Twitter, Swetnick alleges that from 1981 to 1983, she went to several parties that Kavanaugh also attended.

Swetnick writes that she observed Kavanaugh drunk, pressing himself against girls without their consent and engaging in other such behavior. Swetnick also writes that she was raped at one party that Kavanaugh attended.

Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy said in a statement that the panel has received Swetnick's statement and is looking into the allegations.

"This morning Michael Avenatti provided a declaration to the Judiciary committee," Foy said. "Committee lawyers are in the process of reviewing it now."

The committee's minority Democrats, led by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, asked Trump on Wednesday to either direct the FBI to investigate the allegations or withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination.

The Judiciary Committee posted a statement from Kavanaugh on Wednesday morning in which he acknowledged partying and drinking but denied any sexual impropriety.

"I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends," he wrote. "Sometimes I had too many. In retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now. But that's not why we are here today. What I've been accused of is far more serious than juvenile misbehavior."

Those prepared comments to lawmakers echoed remarks that the federal appeals court judge made earlier this week in an interview that aired on Fox News.

"And yes, people might have had too many beers on occasion and people generally in high school — I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit, but that's not what we're talking about ..."

"We're talking about an allegation of sexual assault. I've never sexually assaulted anyone."

Some of Kavanaugh's classmates have said they remember him as a heavy drinker in high school and at college. Others have sprung to his defense: More than 60 of Kavanaugh's former classmates from high school signed a letter on Wednesday to the Judiciary Committee calling Swetnick's allegations "nonsense."

Sure thing no more

Swetnick's allegations follow those of two other women who have said they were victims of sexual misconduct involving Kavanaugh more than three decades ago, when they and he were in high school or college.

The charges have disrupted what had appeared to be a sure confirmation for Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court following his hearings before the Judiciary Committee in early September, which took place before the sexual misconduct allegations became public.

The allegations that appeared on Wednesday also further complicate a much-anticipated hearing scheduled for Thursday with Kavanaugh and another of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford.

Preparations continued for that session. An attorney for Ford sent the Judiciary Committee a report from a polygraph examination that Ford underwent in August.

Later in the day, the Judiciary Committee posted Ford's prepared testimony.

"I am here today not because I want to be," Ford plans to tell the Senate, according to the document. "I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school."

Opponents of Kavanaugh have called for the Judiciary Committee to hear testimony from the other accusers; Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has so far not agreed but he said on Twitter the committee is "talking to all witnesses & gathering all evidence."

Grassley's post suggested federal investigators have been detailed to the committee from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The FBI, however — which Democrats say should investigate the claims by Kavanaugh's accusers — apparently is not involved.

Another Judiciary Committee leader, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters at the Capitol that he'd be open to Swetnick talking with the committee's professional staff, but it wasn't clear whether Grassley agreed or whether Swetnick might follow up with the committee in person.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he thinks Kavanaugh should bow out altogether.

"I strongly believe Judge Kavanaugh should withdraw from consideration," he said. "If he will not, at the very least, the hearing and vote should be postponed while the FBI investigates all of these allegations. If our Republican colleagues proceed without an investigation, it would be a travesty for the honor of the Supreme Court and our country."

Key Republicans said they thought the hearing scheduled for Thursday should go forward. It remains on the Judiciary Committee's schedule, as does a meeting scheduled for Friday at which the committee could vote on whether to recommend Kavanaugh to the full Senate.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who does not sit on the Judiciary Committee but whose vote might be critical to confirming Kavanaugh, told reporters she wasn't familiar with Swetnick's allegations but that she thought Thursday's session should go ahead "because we'll find out some valuable information."

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas agreed and called for the Thursday hearing to take place as planned.

"These most recent allegations don't have anything to do with Dr. Ford," he said.

It wasn't clear how Avenatti had become involved with the Kavanaugh case, but he has spent months cutting out a role for himself as an antagonist of the president.

He sued on behalf of Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, to escape a nondisclosure agreement she signed with Trump's then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. That kept alive Daniels' account of a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, a story which Cohen has acknowledged paying her to not tell ahead of Election Day in 2016.

Daniels also is telling her story in a book scheduled to be published in early October.

Trump has acknowledged the payment to Daniels ahead of the election but denies underlying allegations about sexual relationships with Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal.

Avenatti also surfaced business relationships that Cohen forged with corporate clients early in the Trump administration. Trump's onetime personal lawyer was paid because he said he could provide access to Trump for companies such as AT&T and Novartis.

NPR correspondents Scott Detrow, Kelsey Snell and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report. </s> At a suburban high school party in 1982, a man trapped a woman in a room, pinned her to a bed and began drunkenly groping her as he attempted to remove her clothes. He put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream as his drunk friend watched and egged him on.

This, by no means, is a unique account — but it’s a very important one. The accuser, California university professor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, publicly came forward about these allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh days before a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting was set to vote on his nomination. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, the committee officially canceled it’s Sept. 20 meeting, delaying its vote.

The committee called for a hearing to examine the matter, and Ford — who agreed to testify in a public hearing on Thursday — will inevitably have to stand trial and relive her trauma amid doubts, threats and mockery.

To further stress matters, Deborah Ramirez, 53, came forward in The New Yorker accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were both attending Yale University. According to Ramirez’s account of that night during the 1983-84 school year, Kavanaugh exposed himself at a party and thrusted his penis in her face, touching her with it as she pushed him away.

In light of this recent accusation, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California called for an “immediate postponement” of any action regarding Kavanaugh’s nomination and for the FBI to investigate both women’s allegations.

This mounting case is significant for several reasons, most of which is that it will signal just how seriously the U.S. Senate and Supreme Court treats allegations of sexual misconduct, especially amongst its own members and nominees. If the Senate Judiciary Committee fails to handle this matter with sensitivity, accuracy and deliberation, we may see a shameful repeat of American history.

In 1991, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Hill delivered her testimony before an all white, male Senate Judiciary Committee — a panel that truly didn’t grasp, or care to understand, the seriousness of sexual assaults and the poor character of those who commit them. After a lengthy debate, the U.S. Senate confirmed Thomas to the Supreme Court by a vote of 52-48.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Hill, an attorney and professor at Brandeis University, noted the parallels between Thomas’s 1991 confirmation hearing and Kavanaugh’s present hearing, and detailed how the current committee can get this one right.

“To do better, the 2018 Senate Judiciary Committee must demonstrate a clear understanding that sexual violence is a social reality to which elected representatives must respond,” Hill said in her op-ed. “A fair, neutral and well-thought-out course is the only way to approach Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh’s forthcoming testimony.”

Taking Hill’s guidelines into account, the committee can achieve justice where it had failed 27 years ago. But we’re going to need more than that if we, as a nation, want to take sexual assault allegations seriously and prevent them in the first place. We need to address how men, especially those in power, treat women at home, on the street and in the workplace.

While the #MeToo movement has furthered progress on this issue and begun to shape the cultural lens, there’s still men out there who continue to perpetuate a culture of sexual abuse and harassment. The daily microaggressions perpetrated by men against women — the catcalls, the unwanted touches, the eerie wanton glances — all add up to the insurmountable dread a woman feels any time she’s alone with a strange man. But the perpetrator of more serious sexual misconduct is seldom a stranger.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, seven out of 10 rapes are committed by someone the victim knows, and 45 percent of those known perpetrators are acquaintances, such as classmates, coworkers and bosses.

Not only are Ford’s, Ramirez’s and Hill’s allegations against these men believable, they’re all too common. When men, especially those in positions of power, are accused of sexual assault, they use all their influences to discredit their accusers. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board sought to refute Ford’s claim in an op-ed by implying that the timing of her allegation (days before Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing) signifies a “calculated political ambush.” By questioning Ford’s motives, they shifted blame and doubt from Kavanaugh to her in an attempt to invalidate everything she says.

When men work to discredit or make light of women’s serious sexual misconduct allegations — like when Donald Trump Jr. mocked Ford’s claims of attempted rape on his Instagram — it hurts the survivor while also damaging the credibility of women everywhere and their right to live without fear of sexual harassment.

Ultimately, we need men to be allies — to call out your friends when they make a sexist joke, to intervene when you see someone being verbally or physically harassed, and to treat allegations of sexual assault seriously and with care. I hope the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee take at least this last appeal to heart, not just for Ford and Ramirez, but for women everywhere.
A third woman accuses US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Her lawyer submitted her sworn statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee.