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Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Christine Blasey Ford, cast doubt on Ford's claims of being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at a high school party in the 1980s.

“I don’t have any confidence in the story,” Keyser told New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly in their new book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Last summer, Keyser seemed to say that, although she didn’t remember the
event, she still believed Ford.

“Ms. Keyser does not refute Dr. Ford's account, and she has already told the press that she believes Dr. Ford's account,” Keyser’s attorney wrote last
year. “However, the simple and unchangeable truth is that she is unable to corroborate it because she has no recollection of the incident in question.”

But Keyser now says she lacks confidence in Ford’s account. “We spoke
multiple times to Keyser, who also said that she didn’t recall that get- together or others like it,” Pogrebin and Kelly wrote. “In fact, she
challenged Ford’s accuracy.”

"Those facts together I don't recollect, and it just didn't make any sense," Keyser told the authors.

The allegation against Kavanaugh became public last September during his Supreme Court confirmation process. Ford alleged that in the summer of 1982, Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, a classmate from the all-boys Georgetown Prep, sexually assaulted her in the upstairs room of a home in suburban Maryland.

Ford, who attended all-girls sister school Holton-Arms, was unable to recall specifically when or where the incident occurred or how she got to or from
the party. She said that, in addition to Kavanaugh and Judge, another Georgetown Prep classmate, P.J. Smyth, was also at the party, although she
says he didn’t witness the assault. Ford said her high school friend, Keyser, was also there.

Kavanaugh vehemently denied the accusation; Judge and Smyth said they have no recollection of the party.

"It would be impossible for me to be the only girl at a get-together with
three guys, have her leave, and then not figure out how she's getting home," Keyser told Pogrebin and Kelly. "I just really didn't have confidence in the story."

Pogrebin and Kelly, however, say Ford’s story “rings true” and challenged Keyser’s recollections. “It is possible that Ford’s account is wrong and that Keyser’s lack of recollection is proof of that,” they wrote, but said
“Keyser’s memory might be affected by her struggles with alcohol and other substances.”

Both Ford and Kavanaugh testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year.

“There were four boys I remember being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge,
P.J. Smyth, and one other boy whose name I cannot recall. I remember my
friend Leland Ingham attending,” Ford said during her opening statement, referring to Keyser by her unmarried name.

Ford claimed that “Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes … I believed he was going to rape me.”

Kavanaugh testified that he “immediately, categorically, and unequivocally” denied the allegations. “I swear today under oath before the Senate and the nation, before my family and God, I am innocent of this charge,” he said.

He pointed to Keyser’s statements that she didn’t remember the event. “All
four people allegedly at the event, including Dr. Ford’s longtime friend, Ms. Keyser, have said they recall no such event,” Kavanaugh said. “Her longtime friend, Ms. Keyser, said under penalty of felony that she does not know me
and does not believe she ever saw me at a party ever.”

During her testimony, Ford downplayed the fact that Keyser didn’t have any recollection of the incident. “Leland has significant health challenges, and I’m happy that she’s focusing on herself and getting the health treatment
that she needs,” Ford said. “I don’t expect that P.J. and Leland would
remember this evening.”

A few days before the hearing, Keyser’s attorney said, “Simply put, Ms.
Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being
at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.”

"Keyser later said she felt pressure by both [Ford classmate Lucy] Gonella
and Ford's friend Monica McLean to change her story," Pogrebin and Kelly
wrote.

"I was told behind the scenes that certain things could spread about me if I didn't comply," Keyser told the authors.

A group text recounted in the book between Ford’s friends following the
hearing included discussions on how to convince Keyser to modify her story. Cheryl Amitay, a grade behind Ford at Holton, urged Keyser’s friends to talk
to Keyser. “Maybe one of you guys who are friends with her can have a heart
to heart,” Amitay texted. “I don’t care, frankly, how f---ed up her life is.”

Amitay called Keyser “a major stumbling block.”

Another Ford classmate, Lulu Gonella, said she was to meet with Keyser within an hour.

Another friend, a man who’d gone to Holton’s brother school, suggested making Keyser's "addictive tendencies" — the authors describe in the book her struggles with alcohol and drugs — widely known. “Perhaps it makes sense to
let everyone in the public know what her condition is,” the man texted.

McLean, a former FBI agent, denied pressuring Keyser to the authors.

Kavanaugh was confirmed to the nation’s highest court by a vote of 50–48 last year. The book, published by Portfolio, goes on sale Tuesday.


--
Watching Democrats come up with schemes to "catch Trump" is like
watching Wile E. Coyote trying to catch Road Runner.

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