Leland Ingham Keyser, a friend of Christine Blasey Ford, said in a letter via her attorney that she is not refuting the sexual assault allegation but still has no recollection of the party and does not know Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Keyser’s lawyer sent the letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday night, one day after Ford and Kavanaugh testified in front of the senate.
In the letter, attorney Howard Walsh wrote that his client is not discrediting Ford’s claim but cannot corroborate it.
‘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 stated, according to CNN.
Leland Ingham Keyser, pictured left and right, released a second statement saying she is not refuting Ford’s allegation but does not remember the party
Christine Blasey Ford (pictured) has alleged Brett Kavanaugh, who has been nominated as a justice of the Supreme Court, sexually assaulted her while the pair were high school students
Walsh also said Keyser will ‘cooperate fully’ with the FBI investigation into the allegation.
Keyser previously released a statement last week saying she does not know Kavanaugh and ‘has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr Ford’.
Walsh told CNN that he wanted to send the letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee because her first statement was brought up during Thursday’s hearing and she thought it made it sound as if she did not believe Ford.
Ford came forward with claims that Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a high school party in 1982 when they were teenagers. She alleged that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothes but she was able to escape.
Ford said Kavanaugh allegedly pinned her to a bed and tried to take her clothes off when she was 15. Ford is pictured on Thursday during a senate hearing
Kavanaugh, pictured during Thursday’s senate confirmation hearing, denied assaulting Ford
During Thursday’s senate hearing, she testified that she remembers Keyser being at the party but said she is not surprised her friend doesn’t remember the gathering.
‘She didn’t know about the event,’ Ford told the committee about the alleged assault. ‘She was downstairs during the event and I did not share it with her.’
Kavanaugh, who denies assaulting Ford, mentioned Keyser’s statement during his testimony to point out that none of the people Ford said were at the party remember it ever taking place.
Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh’s who Ford said was in the bedroom during the assault, has also publicly said he does not remember the party happening.
‘I have no memory of this alleged incident,’ he said in a statement, adding that he has never known Kavanaugh to act in the manner Ford described.
Christine Blasey Ford alleges the assault happened at a high school party in the 1980s when they were teenagers. The pair are pictured in their high school yearbooks
Patrick ‘PJ’ Smyth also issued a statement saying he does not remember the gathering after Ford named him as one of the teens at the party.
‘I understand that I have been identified by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as the person she remembers as ‘PJ’ who supposedly was present at the party she described in her statements to the Washington Post,’ Smyth said in the statement. ‘I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh.’
On Friday, the senate committee agreed to delay its vote one week so the FBI can investigation the assault allegation.