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GOP senator accuses Schumer of being behind release of Ford letter
The Hill ^ | 10/09/18 | ALEXANDER BOLTON

Posted on 10/09/2018 10:57:14 AM PDT by yesthatjallen

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Tuesday accused Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) of being behind the leak of an explosive letter that almost derailed Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Cotton and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have called for an investigation into how a letter from Christine Blasey Ford alleging that Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her in high school was made public, despite Ford’s wishes.

“I believe the Schumer political operation was behind this from the very beginning,” Cotton told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview Tuesday.

A spokesman for Schumer dismissed the charge as a “fairytale.”

Cotton noted recent media reports that Monica McLean, a friend of Ford’s, allegedly pressured a key witness, Leland Keyser, into changing her statement to the FBI that she did not remember the party where Kavanaugh was accused of assaulting Ford.

“We learned last week that a woman named Monica McClean was Ms. Ford’s roommate, and she was one of the so-called beach friends who encouraged Ms. Ford to go to Dianne Feinstein and the partisan Democrats on the Judiciary Committee,” Cotton said, referring to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Judiciary panel.

Cotton said the fact that McClean once worked for former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara is evidence that Schumer’s political operation was involved in the leak because Bharara used to work for Schumer on Capitol Hill.

“So I strongly suspect that Chuck Schumer’s political operations knew about Ms. Ford’s allegations as far back as July and manipulated the process all along,” he said.

Matt House, a spokesman for Schumer, dismissed the theory and questioned Cotton’s credibility.

“Another fairytale from Sen. Cotton, reminiscent of his trip to the White House when he lied about what the President said about immigrants from Africa,” House said, referring to a White House meeting in January at which Cotton was present when Trump demanded why the United States should accept immigrants from “shithole countries.”

Cotton initially said that he “did not hear derogatory comments about individuals or persons” at that meeting but then later acknowledged, “I never denied there wasn’t strong language in the room used by lots of people.”

Cotton, Cruz and other Republicans are pushing for an investigation into how Ford’s letter became public after she requested that Feinstein keep her name confidential.

Feinstein has repeatedly denied leaking the letter and says her staff didn’t leak it either.

Cotton last month called for an investigation of Feinstein and her staff.

“There is a well-established process of confidentiality on that committee,” Cotton told CBS News’ John Dickerson on Sept. 30. “Dianne Feinstein and her staff is going to face an investigation for why they leaked that.”

Cruz recently told reporters that if Democrats leaked the letter, “it was wrong, cynical and unethical.”

He said his Republican colleagues are discussing who should conduct an investigation into the matter.

Cotton has also called for an investigation of Ford’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, by the D.C. bar association for not communicating to their client that Judiciary panel investigators were willing to fly to California to interview her in private instead of having her testify in public before the committee in open session.

Feinstein recently told reporters that “I didn’t break any law” and called Cotton’s call for an investigation “pretty ridiculous.”

She also told colleagues on the Judiciary Committee when Kavanaugh testified before the panel earlier this month that neither she nor her staff leaked Ford’s letter.

Feinstein says she kept the document confidential out of respect for Ford’s wishes and doesn’t know how its existence became public.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: braking; ford; kavanaugh; schumer; scotus; senate; tomcotton
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1 posted on 10/09/2018 10:57:14 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

So maybe fords lawyer katz leaked it?


2 posted on 10/09/2018 11:00:19 AM PDT by SteveH
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To: yesthatjallen

Wow! Serious allegation, guess he needs to step down. Unless, of course, he can prove it isn’t true.


3 posted on 10/09/2018 11:01:13 AM PDT by GMMC0987
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To: yesthatjallen

“Another fairytale from Sen. Cotton, reminiscent of his trip to the White House when he lied about what the President said about immigrants from Africa,”

So, in other words, Schumer does not deny the charge, he only makes fun of it.


4 posted on 10/09/2018 11:01:54 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy
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To: SteveH

If the lawyer leaked it, wouldn’t that be something which could cause a lawyer to he disbarred?


5 posted on 10/09/2018 11:02:44 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: yesthatjallen

That would, of course, make perfect sense.

Hide behind DiFi’s skirt as she’s 85 years old and likely to lose her primary anyhow. Implausible deniability.


6 posted on 10/09/2018 11:09:12 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: yesthatjallen

Seems to confirm the suspicion that McLean was the letter-leaker.


7 posted on 10/09/2018 11:12:27 AM PDT by thoughtomator (Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 1)
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To: thoughtomator

Seems to confirm the suspicion that McLean was the letter-leaker.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I get the feeling she is behind the whole thing. She has the connections and the motive. When they were all clamoring to have the FBI do an investigation you have to wonder if they figured one of their moles could make up some good stuff against Kavanaugh.


8 posted on 10/09/2018 11:18:36 AM PDT by shelterguy
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To: GMMC0987

Definitely need a special investigation with no limits. He is guilty until proven innocent using his own standards. Investigator until the cows come home


9 posted on 10/09/2018 11:18:51 AM PDT by spudville
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To: yesthatjallen

Joe: That was a pretty neat trick you pulled, Chuck, old pal.
Chuck: Hehehe.

10 posted on 10/09/2018 11:22:27 AM PDT by conservative98
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To: yesthatjallen
Was it Barzini or Tattaglia who approached Chuck?
11 posted on 10/09/2018 11:22:37 AM PDT by OttawaFreeper ("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966)
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To: shelterguy

She appears to be the operational coordinator of the plot, but there’s no way in hell she was the order-giver.

This goes back to Schumer and Clinton, and possibly also McCabe and Rosenstein.


12 posted on 10/09/2018 11:22:49 AM PDT by thoughtomator (Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 1)
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To: yesthatjallen

“Leaking” the letter and Ford’s identity was the plan from day one. Why else would she have scrubbed her social media over the summer?!


13 posted on 10/09/2018 11:23:14 AM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: thoughtomator

The big question is.....will these neutered republicans take someone down or let them go free so they can do it again next time.


14 posted on 10/09/2018 11:25:18 AM PDT by shelterguy
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To: yesthatjallen

McLean was the mastermind. She was the one who knew how to phrase things just so. One and only one can of beer. So, Ford could not be said to have blacked out. But could be said to have been taken advantage of. No drivers, and no dates so people could not conclusively refute the allegations. No hard evidence given directly to the committee. Doctor’s notes, lie detector and original letter go only to friendly democrats and friendly press.


15 posted on 10/09/2018 11:25:24 AM PDT by poinq
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To: yesthatjallen

And whaddya know!

The FBI obtained text messages from MONICA McLEAN, Ford beach friend and former press agent of Schumer right-hand Preet Bharara, to LELAND KEYSER.

The texts asked Keyser to “clarify” away her statement that she never met Kavanaugh!https://t.co/o1bELmPsYH
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 5, 2018


16 posted on 10/09/2018 11:25:42 AM PDT by COUNTrecount (If only Harvey Weinstein's bathrobe could talk.)
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To: COUNTrecount

I’d say it was Durban of shi-hole fame.


17 posted on 10/09/2018 11:26:36 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: the_Watchman

Great question!


18 posted on 10/09/2018 11:26:57 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement!)
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To: thoughtomator

McClrean was also almost certainly the letter writer. In fact, this whole fraud originated with McClean. Ford was just playing the role of victim.


19 posted on 10/09/2018 11:29:46 AM PDT by KyCats
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To: yesthatjallen

“I believe the Schumer political operation was behind this from the very beginning,” Cotton told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview Tuesday.

A spokesman for Schumer dismissed the charge as a “fairytale.”


I dunno. The charges seem very credible. Who to believe?

Dontcha just hate these “he said, he said” things. I think Schumer should step down, if only because of the appearance of impropriety.

:-)


20 posted on 10/09/2018 11:30:04 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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