Cops Questioned Kavanaugh After 1985 Bar Brawl

Yale classmate says he threw beer at somebody after UB40 concert
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 2, 2018 4:49 AM CDT
Updated Oct 2, 2018 6:21 AM CDT
Kavanaugh Was Questioned After 1985 Bar Fight
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary committee, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018.   (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Another weird twist in the Brett Kavanaugh saga: The New York Times has obtained a police report confirming that the Supreme Court nominee was questioned after a bar fight in 1985. The report states that a 21-year-old man injured in the altercation accused Kavanaugh of throwing ice at him. Kavanaugh and four others were questioned by police in New Haven, Conn., but there is no sign anyone was charged. Yale classmate Rod Ludington, who has described Kavanaugh as "belligerent" when drunk, says the incident started after a UB40 concert, when he, Kavanaugh, and other friends were staring at a man in a bar called Demery's, trying to figure out if he was UB40 singer Ali Campbell.

After the man swore at them and told them to stop staring, Kavanaugh swore and "threw his beer at the guy," triggering a fight involving several people, Ludington says. "I don't know what Brett was doing in the melee, but there was blood, there was glass, there was beer and there was some shouting, and the police showed up," Ludington says. The UB40 lookalike, identified in the police report as Dom Cozzolino, declined to comment to the Times. In other developments:

  • Ramirez allegations. Text messages obtained by NBC suggest that even before allegations from Deborah Ramirez were published in the New Yorker, Kavanaugh was contacting Yale classmates, trying to get them to refute her claim that he exposed himself to her at a party. The texts between Kavanaugh and former classmates suggest that he was trying to discredit Ramirez as early as July.
  • Judge interviewed. Mike Judge, the other person Christine Blasey Ford says was in the room when she was allegedly assaulted by Kavanaugh, has been interviewed by the FBI, Politico reports, though his lawyer says the interview is not complete. Judge said in a letter to senators last month that he has "no memory of this alleged incident."

  • Withdrawal from Harvard Law. Harvard Law School has announced that Kavanaugh will no longer be teaching at the university this winter because he can "no longer commit" to the position, the Washington Post reports. Hundreds of graduates had signed a letter demanding that the appointment be rescinded.
  • Democrats shift tactics. The AP reports that Democrats are focusing on Kavanaugh's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, arguing that his testimony, especially his claim that the allegations are an "orchestrated political hit," shows he doesn't have the right temperament to serve on the Supreme Court. They also accuse him of being less than honest about issues including his drinking. "The harsh fact of the matter is that we have mounting evidence that Judge Kavanaugh is just not credible," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
  • Expanded probe. The CBC looks at who the FBI might interview now that the agency has reportedly been authorized to speak to anyone it deems necessary. Agents might now speak to third accuser Julie Swetnick, though former assistant FBI director Chris Swecker doubts agents will "waste their time" investigating how much Kavanaugh drank or whether he blacked out. "That he drank beer and was underage—that's not the real issue," he says.
(More Brett Kavanaugh stories.)

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