Media plays fast and loose with released statement

Leland Keyser, a high school friend whom Dr. Christine Blasey Ford publicly named as a witness, again refuted that she does not know Brett Kavanaugh in a letter released Saturday.

You might not understand that from media reports today concerning the letter that Keyser sent to the Senate Committee.

By Dwight Widaman, Editor

CBS News and CNN are reporting that Keyser’s letter confirms Ford’s account and that she supports Ford’s claims against Kavanaugh.

There’s one problem. Ford says Keyser was there and in the newest letter Keyser again says she has no memory of that part or ever having known Kavanaugh.

Keyser says through her lawyer that she was willing to “cooperate fully with the FBI’s supplemental investigation” into the allegations.

“However, as my client has already made clear, she does not know Judge Kavanaugh and has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford,” the letter from Howard Walsh, Keyser’s attorney, said. It continued that Keyser “does not refute Dr. Ford’s account, and she has already told the press that she believes Dr. Ford’s account.”

“However, the simple and unchangeable truth is that she is unable to corroborate it because she has no recollection of the incident in question,” the letter continued.

Observers note that there’s a huge difference between believing someone’s account and actually being a witness to it and, more importantly identifying the attacker whom you’ve already admitted you never knew.

Ford herself says she didn’t tell anyone of the incident until 2012. And even then, in discussing it with her counselor, Kavenaugh’s name does not appear in any of her therapy sessions, according to detailed notes taken by the therapist.

So, if Keyser was fingered as a witness by Ford and democrat staffers, but still denies being there or knowing anything about Kavanaugh, where does that leave the investigation?

So far, none of the witnesses Ford has named as being in attendance at the party where the alleged assault occurred have substantiated her claim.

In his testimony before the Judiciary Committee Thursday, Kavanaugh brought up Keyser’s statement as one of may presentations of proof of his innocence.

Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh’s who Ford claims was present during the assault, has also said that he will cooperate with the FBI investigation. He has already signed an affidavit, under penalty of imprisonment for lying, that he was not connected to any such party.