As Washington braces for Thursday’s media frenzy, an even more ominous prospect hangs over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court: a sinister allegation teased by Michael Avenatti that could explode Kavanaugh’s confirmation—or be another dud. Avenatti, after all, has developed something of a dubious reputation in the six months since he first entered (and quickly dominated) the national scene. His bare-knuckle defense of adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, relentless takedown of Michael Cohen, and undeniable talent for media, social and otherwise, have transformed him into a formidable opponent of Donald Trump and an unlikely Democratic presidential hopeful. It was Avenatti who first predicted that Cohen would be indicted, and Avenatti who later dumped records of Cohen’s suspicious bank activity online. But the ubiquitous “porn lawyer,” as Republicans have dubbed him, has also struck out on occasion. A mysterious CD or DVD containing visual evidence related to Trump’s relationship with Daniels was never released. His “three additional female clients” who he said were “paid hush money prior to the 2016 election” have yet to come forward. So it is with some hesitancy that Democrats are tiptoeing around Avenatti’s latest would-be bombshell: that he is representing another woman with “credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh” and what he described as “gang rape.”

“We are aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the Washington, D.C. area during the early 1980s, during which Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge and others would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them,”Avenatti wrote Sunday in an e-mail to Mike Davis, chief counsel for nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be overseeing Thursday’s hearing. “There are multiple witnesses that will corroborate these facts and each of them must be called to testify publicly.”

Evidence to support such an accusation would surely upend Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which has already become a Chernobyl-like political disaster for the White House. But with the clock ticking down to Kavanaugh’s confrontation with Christine Blasey Ford—the Palo Alto University professor who has accused him of a drunken sexual assault at a high-school party 36 years ago—Avenatti’s new client has yet to come forward. On Monday morning, Avenatti tweeted that his client “has previously done work within the State Dept, U.S. Mint, & DOJ,” has been granted “multiple security clearances” in the past, and is eminently credible. On Tuesday, as doubts piled up on both sides of the aisle, Avenatti explained that his client’s name and accusations would be disclosed “only when SHE is ready and we have adequate security measures in place.” Both, he said, should be expected “within the next 36 [hours]”—potentially just hours before the Senate hearing is scheduled to begin.

Democrats are treading cautiously, for now. “If he has something to introduce, he should do it now. I haven’t had any contact with him,” Senator Mazie Hirono told Politico, while her colleague Brian Schatz was more blunt: “You know I never have no comment, but I have no comment about Michael Avenatti.” (One hour after initiating the 36-hour countdown, Avenatti said he was setting his Twitter account to “private” due to “the bots and Trump trolls” attacking him.)

Contrast that with the Democrats’ stentorian defense of Deborah Ramirez, Kavanaugh’s second accuser, who told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when both were Yale undergrads. Multiple Democrats told Politico that they had reason to believe Ramirez, despite her own admission that her recollection was hazy, and called for the Senate to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation until both Ford and Ramirez’s accusations were fully investigated. “By pushing forward with this Thursday’s hearing, we’re at real risk of not hearing all of the relevant allegations against Judge Kavanaugh,” Senator Chris Coons said. “Any senators who don’t have real concerns about Judge Kavanaugh’s reputation, his integrity, ought to take a step back and reconsider at this point.”

Republicans, seizing on Avenatti’s controversial reputation, have attempted to twist his new allegation to their advantage. “How do we know this is a baseless smear against Judge Kavanaugh?” tweeted G.O.P. Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “1) No witnesses. 2) No corroborating evidence. 3) Michael Avenatti is involved.”

But even as Republicans and Democrats tussle over the politics of the Kavanaugh accusations—with the Republicans attempting to paint them as ungrounded and politicized, and Kavanaugh going on Fox News to insist he just wants a “fair process” and for his voice to be heard—the threat of a last-minute Avenatti shocker has political observers on edge and at least some Democrats cautiously optimistic.

For now, Avenatti says he is delaying his announcement in order to properly prepare for the avalanche of scrutiny: “We’re deciding how that would occur, making sure there is security in place. We’re getting our ducks in a row,” he told Politico. “This is a very strategic and methodical approach, which is what we did with Stormy Daniels.”