Grassley Sends Letter to AG Bill Barr Seeking Update on Criminal Referral of Avenatti and Swetnick to DOJ For Kavanaugh Smears


Michael Avenatti, Julie Swetnick

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Tuesday sent a letter to US Attorney General Bill Barr seeking an update after criminally referring Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the DOJ for their false claims and smears against Brett Kavanaugh.
The letter was addressed to Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
 
“When individuals intentionally mislead the committee, they divert important committee resources during time sensitive investigations and materially impede its work,” Grassley wrote. “Such acts are not only unfair; they are potentially illegal. It is illegal to make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements to congressional investigators. It is illegal to obstruct committee investigations.”
“The next Supreme Court nominee should not have to defend himself or herself against baseless and fabricated allegations, and committee staff should not have to spend valuable time investigating them,” Grassley added.
Grassley asked for a response to his letter by October 21.

Almost exactly one year ago, then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley criminally referred creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the DOJ.
Last September, Michael Avenatti revealed Brett Kavanaugh’s 3rd accuser shortly before the confirmation vote — A woman named Julie Swetnick who brought forth allegations of gang rape.
Ms. Swetnick, in a sworn statement says she was a victim of one of these “gang” or “train” rapes where Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present. Swetnick also claims she was drugged with Qualuudes or “something similar.”
Grassley called for a criminal investigation into Avenatti and Swetnick, specifically for false statements and deliberate obstruction of a congressional investigation (violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001 and 1505).
Grassley’s criminal referral of Avenatti and Swetnick also contained new evidence that Swetnick had a history of making false rape charges. Under penalty of perjury, an ex-boyfriend said she explicitly threatened to falsely accuse him of rape and have him deported.
Julie Swetnick’s sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh began to fall apart immediately after she came forward with her outrageous claims.
Grassley noted this in his criminal referral.
“Swetnick made her allegations in a sworn statement to the committee on September 26. In an October 1 interview with NBC News, however, Swetnick specifically and explicitly back-tracked or contradicted key parts of her sworn statement on these and other allegations.”
“In subsequent interviews, Avenatti likewise cast serious doubt on or contradicted the allegations while insisting that he had thoroughly vetted his client.”
Avenatti is in a world of trouble as it is on unrelated charges.
In April, a federal grand jury indicted Avenatti on 36 counts of fraud, perjury, tax evasion, embezzlement and other financial crimes.
Then in May, the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York hit Avenatti with a separate 6-count indictment for aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to transmit interstate communications with intent to extort, among other charges.
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