The wrenching testimony of Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh, whom she has accused of sexual assault in the 1980s, has created an immense political challenge for the Republican senators determined to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at Stanford, has been a clear and compelling witness. Republicans, conscious of the optics of badgering an alleged victim, have responded with caution and restraint. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was as polite as possible in his opening remarks Thursday, and quickly handed off questioning to a female prosecutor, Rachel Mitchell, to interrogate Ford on behalf of the all-male members of the Republican half of the committee. (Kavanaugh has denied all of the allegations against him.)

At the same time, Republicans have been quietly advancing a strategy to sabotage Ford without attacking her outright. While G.O.P. leadership has made a public show of openness to Ford’s testimony, they have also deliberately promoted several less credible allegations in an effort to taint the entire campaign against Kavanaugh as a witch hunt. As CNN reports, on Tuesday Republican investigators for the Judiciary Committee made a point of asking Kavanaugh about two new accusations against him—one that was entirely anonymous, and another that was quickly recanted.

The first of these two accusations came to light via a letter mailed to Republican Senator Cory Gardner. The writer, who declined to share her name, said that her daughter (also nameless) had witnessed an incident in the 1990s, in which Kavanaugh drunkenly shoved her daughter’s friend, who she said Kavanaugh was dating at the time. Kavanaugh—as demonstrated in the transcript that Republicans made sure to release—was incredulous:

Redacted interviewer: Do you recall ever socializing with a woman from Boulder, Colorado?

Kavanaugh: No.

Redacted interviewer: While you were involved in the Starr investigation, do you recall ever dating a woman who would fairly fit the description in the letter provided to Senator Gardner?

Redacted interviewer: The anonymous letter.

Kavanaugh: What’s the description?

Redacted interviewer: Just based on what I—

Kavanaugh: Describe her appearance.

Redacted interviewer: No, it’s—all we have is what I read.

Kavanaugh: Well, then I don’t know what I’m responding to then.

The Republican investigators also made a point of asking Kavanaugh about another allegation, made in a call to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s office, “concerning a rape on a boat in August of 1985.” Kavanaugh, again, was unequivocal: