ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Forty interviews later and investigators have found nothing — nil, zilch, nada, zero — substantiating the sexual harassment and assault claims made by women against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Moreover, one of the women, Judy Munro-Leighton, who had claimed Kavanaugh raped her in what she said was a “vicious assault,” has recanted.

Now imagine being a real rape victim, a genuine victim of sexual assault, already frightened about reporting the crime. That little voice in a real victim’s head that says, “Why bother reporting what happened — nobody’s going to believe you anyway?”

That little voice just got a whole lot louder.

These accusers, these lying accusers — send ‘em to jail. That’s where they belong.

“Munro-Leighton submitted a fabricated allegation, which diverted committee resources,” Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley wrote in a letter to the FBI and the Justice Department. “When questioned by committee investigators she admitted it was false, a ‘ploy,’ and a ‘tactic.’ She was opposed to Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation.”

Munro-Leighton’s excuse for lying was that she “was angry.”

Meanwhile, in a 414-page report about the investigation into Kavanaugh that Grassley just released, it found: nothing.

“Following the separate and extensive investigations by both the committee and and the FBI, there was no evidence to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault made against Justice Kavanaugh,” the report states.

In other words: Kavanaugh is innocent — as he’s claimed.

His name, his reputation, his family were all dragged into the mud for leftist political designs — as part of a concerted hatchet job aimed at halting his nomination, any which way that could work, any which disgusting method that stuck.

And now, the Democrats, the liberals, the progressives who sparked this fire and fury against an innocent man should pay — beginning with the prosecution of this horrible woman Munro-Leighton. Grassley, quite rightly, has asked the FBI and Justice to do just, to prosecute her for lying to congressional members and for obstructing Congress. He’s also asked the FBI to investigate Julie Swetnick, the woman who accused Kavanaugh of involvement in gang rapes, and prosecute her for any lies. And he’s asked investigators to take a look at attorney Michael Avenatti and see if he’s committed any prosecutable offenses, as well.

Good.

Anyone tied to these crimes of deception against Kavanaugh ought to face the legal consequences for their lies.

It’s not just justice and the state of truth and Kavanaugh’s own closure that’s on the line. It’s not just the fate of boys across America who may one day fall in the crosshairs of a woman like Munro-Leighton that’s a dark shadow over the country.

It’s all those real sexual assault and rape and harassment victims who’ve come before and who will come after — victims who have a hard enough time taking the courageous step of outing their accusers, in part, because they have to deal with the terrible wonder, “Will I be believed?”

Thanks to liars like Munro-Leighton, their lives all just got a little bit harder — their ordeals all just got a little bit tougher.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley.

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