Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick, who alleges she witnessed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh participating in multiple gang rapes when he was 15, may be headed for real legal trouble.

So, naturally, Planned Parenthood’s political arm came out Thursday in support of the flashy, attention-starved attorney’s clearly troubled client. Because this is definitely about standing with alleged victims and not at all about siding with anti-GOP partisan activists. Nope. No siree.



We still believe Julie Swetnick. #BelieveSurvivors — Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) October 25, 2018



The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Thursday that it had referred both Avenatti and Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Among the issues highlighted by the committee are allegations the attorney and his client provided false statements and obstructed congressional investigations.

Swetnick first appeared in September during the Kavanaugh confirmation fight to allege the conservative judge was once a violent gang-rapist when he was a freshman in high school. She alleged originally that Kavanaugh would get girls "inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of numerous boys." Swetnick, whose story kept changing, added: “I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.”

She never did produce a single witness to corroborate her story, which is funny, considering her tale would involve dozens of eyewitnesses and victims. Avenatti himself admitted later she didn't actually witness any of Kavanaugh's alleged criminal behavior firsthand.

Swetnick first said in a signed affidavit that she witnessed Kavanaugh “spik[ing] the drinks of girls at house parties ... with grain alcohol and/or drugs.” She said later in an NBC interview, which never should’ve aired in the first place, that she only saw Kavanaugh handing out red Solo cups to girls.

From the get-go, her story seemed like either a fever dream cooked up by an unstable person and pushed by an unscrupulous shyster of a lawyer or a deliberate lie meant to scuttle Kavanaugh’s chances of being confirmed to the Supreme Court. On Thursday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, signaled he believes it’s the latter.

“When a well-meaning citizen comes forward with information relevant to the committee’s work, I take it seriously. It takes courage to come forward, especially with allegations of sexual misconduct or personal trauma. I’m grateful for those who find that courage,” the senator said in a statement.

It added: “But in the heat of partisan moments, some do try to knowingly mislead the committee. That’s unfair to my colleagues, the nominees and others providing information who are seeking the truth. It stifles our ability to work on legitimate lines of inquiry. It also wastes time and resources for destructive reasons. Thankfully, the law prohibits such false statements to Congress and obstruction of congressional committee investigations. For the law to work, we can’t just brush aside potential violations. I don’t take lightly making a referral of this nature, but ignoring this behavior will just invite more of it in the future.”

For a great many people, the committee’s Thursday announcement should represent a positive development. The Right saw Avenatti’s antics as a despicable charade. On the Left, they saw his contributions to the Kavanaugh confirmation fight as supremely unhelpful, especially after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, suggested that the Swetnick nonsense nudged her to vote for Kavanaugh.

For both sides, it should come as good news to hear that the Senate Judiciary Committee is taking Avenatti’s nonsense seriously enough to refer it to the Justice Department. It’s good news, that is, unless you’re Planned Parenthood Action. But what else do you expect of shameless partisans?