Justice Anthony Kennedy drar sig tillbaka?

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has referred attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Department of Justice for a criminal probe into whether they gave “materially false” statements to Congress during the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and intentionally attempted to obstruct the process.

“I don’t take lightly making a referral of this nature,” Grassley said in a statement. “But ignoring this behavior will just invite more of it in the future.”

Avenatti released a sworn deposition from Swetnick on Twitter Sept. 26, alleging that Kavanaugh was present at a party in high school in which she was gang raped, and that she had witnessed Kavanaugh spiking drinks with alcohol during parties. Swetnick was the third woman to come forward accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, but Swetnick’s account was the only one of the three that did not emerge through a journalistic report. Kavanaugh denied the allegation and said he did not know her.

Grassley argues in the letter of referral, addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray, that the evidence from the false statements in the deposition came from Swetnick herself, in an interview with NBC News.

“In sum, the sworn statement Mr. Avenatti submitted to the committee on behalf of Ms. Swetnick claimed she had “personal knowledge” that Judge Kavanaugh spiked punch with drugs and alcohol at house parties in 1981-83 in order to cause girls to become incapacitated so that lines of boys would sexually assaulted them. She later contradicted each of those claims in her interview with NBC,” the letter reads.