Kavanaugh’s Drinking Buddy Mark Judge Played A Crucial Role In Today’s Hearing

As U.S. Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, a name keeps coming up: Mark Judge.

Judge is a former classmate of Kavanaugh and one of his closest friends. Ford says he was present in the room when the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted and attempted to rape her at a house party in the early 1980s. (Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.)

In her opening statement, Ford said: "Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time. Mark was urging Brett on, although at times he told Brett to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not. During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. The last time he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me."

She added that she saw Judge at a Potomac Village Safeway about six to eight weeks after the attack. She told lawmakers she said hello to him, and "his face was white and very uncomfortable saying hello back." She claimed he seemed nervous and like he didn't want to speak with her.

Despite being the only person to rebuke Ford's allegations before the Senate, and make sure President Trump can get his conservative nominee confirmed, Judge chose not to testify Thursday.

“I did not ask to be involved in this matter, nor did anyone ask me to be involved,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding, “I have no more information to offer to the committee, and I do not wish to speak publicly regarding the incidents described in Dr. Ford’s letter.”

When asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy if Judge should testify, Kavanaugh dodged the question and said: "He's already provided sworn testimony."

In his memoir Wasted, published in 1997, Judge wrote about a pact he made with his Georgetown Prep classmates: Drink 100 kegs of beer before graduation. This is something Kavanaugh also referred to on his yearbook page with the phrase "100 kegs or bust." Judge, a conservative, also has written about the character "Bart O’Kavanaugh," who was such a heavy drinker that once he vomited in someone’s car and afterwards "passed out on his way back from a party."

When it came to the topic of consent, Judge has written that there's an "ambiguous middle ground, where the woman seems interested and indicates, whether verbally or not, that the man needs to prove himself to her. And if that man is any kind of man, he’ll allow himself to feel the awesome power, the wonderful beauty, of uncontrollable male passion."

Kavanaugh's third accuser Julie Swetnick alleges that he and Judge conspired to drug girls and gang rape them at house parties in the early 1980s; she also said both men were present while she was victim to one of these gang rapes.

This is consistent with what his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Rasor told the New Yorker, which reported on the allegations made by Kavanaugh's accuser Deborah Ramirez. According to the magazine: "Rasor recalled that Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman. Rasor said that Judge seemed to regard it as fully consensual. She said that Judge did not name others involved in the incident, and she has no knowledge that Kavanaugh participated. But Rasor was disturbed by the story."

She sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week saying she's willing to testify before the elected officials and also speak with FBI agents. Meanwhile, Judge remains in hiding at a beach house in Delaware.