On Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, acknowledged she had received a letter from the accuser and shared it with the FBI.

Top Republican lawmakers are already jumping to Kavanaugh’s defense. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, released a letter signed by more than 60 women who have known the nominee.

“We are women who have known Brett Kavanaugh for more than 35 years and knew him while he attended high school between 1979 and 1983,” the letter said. “For the entire time we have known Brett Kavanaugh, he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect. We strongly believe it is important to convey this information to the Committee at this time.”

The women describe the young Kavanaugh as an “outstanding student and athlete with a wide circle of friends.”

As the Me Too movement has repeatedly pointed out, treating some people well does not mean an individual did not sexually abuse another.

The sheer number of signatures also led some observers to question whether Grassley’s office had known of the accusation before reports about the letter to Feinstein surfaced. Grassley’s office denied this, and one of the women who signed the letter tweeted on Friday that she only found out about it the night before.