The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer said in a Monday interview that she and fellow writer Ronan Farrow aggressively pursued a second Kavanaugh accuser to prove that the judge had a “pattern of misconduct.”
The New Yorker published allegations from Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to accuse Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, on September 23. Ramirez claimed that while attending a dormitory party at Yale University, Kavanaugh exposed himself to her and she accidentally touched his penis while pushing him away.
The reporting was heavily criticized because of its lack of any firsthand witnesses and Ramirez’s own admission that it took her six days to remember whether or not Kavanaugh was involved in the incident.
In an interview with Elle Magazine, Mayer explained why the story was so important to her and Farrow, stating the following:
So having watched this before, I knew that key issues would be whether the judge had a pattern of similar behavior, since that helps establish who is telling the truth when there is a standoff, and whether there were credible corroborators on either side. Knowing this is why Ronan Farrow and I were so alert to the significance of other accusers, such as Deborah Ramirez. Her allegation showed that, if true, yes, there was a pattern of misconduct, and likely another side of the judge.
The Washington Examiner’s Byron York and Fox News’ Lisa Boothe said that Mayer’s comment is proof that she and Farrow were more interested in tangling Kavanaugh in a “pattern of similar behavior” than in printing a factual story.
New Yorker’s Jane Mayer says, yes, she and Ronan Farrow jumped on Deborah Ramirez story in effort to show a pattern in Brett Kavanaugh sexual misconduct allegations. This: https://t.co/zolB5ukIEz And then this: https://t.co/mxfUzwhjaw pic.twitter.com/P0XAAdhiH5
— Byron York (@ByronYork) October 8, 2018
Boothe pointed out that, despite talking to “dozens” of potential witnesses to Ramirez’s claim, The New Yorker could not find one to corroborate her story. The only person who claimed to have any knowledge was an anonymous classmate who “heard about the incident either on the night of the party or in the next day or two.”
So clearly it didn’t matter to them they could not find a single person to corroborate. Despicable.
— Lisa Boothe (@LisaMarieBoothe) October 9, 2018
Mayer seemed unbothered by the interpretation of her comments, writing on Twitter, “It’s so flattering to have @ByronYork parsing my every word- even sleuthing through Elle magazine in search of material. Even my mom can’t keep up with him in the race to fill the family scrap book!” (RELATED: The New York Times Was Unable To Corroborate Second Kavanaugh Accuser’s Story)
It’s so flattering to have @ByronYork parsing my every word- even sleuthing through Elle magazine in search of material. Even my mom can’t keep up with him in the race to fill the family scrap book!
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) October 9, 2018
The New York Times said that they looked into Ramirez’s allegations, “had interviewed several dozen people over the past week in an attempt to corroborate [Ramirez’s] story, and could find no one with firsthand knowledge.”