Garrett Ventry was a spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Kavanaugh Confirmation GOP aide working on Kavanaugh confirmation resigns amid past harassment claim

Garrett Ventry, a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson brought on to help shepherd Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, has resigned amid a past allegation of sexual harassment, a committee spokesperson confirmed.

“Garrett was one of several temporary staff brought on to assist in the committee’s consideration of the Supreme Court nomination, a team that has done outstanding work,” a Judiciary Committee spokesperson told POLITICO in a statement. “While he strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee.”


Ventry’s resignation was first reported by NBC News.

Ventry’s resignation comes amid an allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, when they were in high school.

The spokesperson did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding Ventry, but a source familiar with the matter told POLITICO that he was fired from his position last year working for North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell for providing a fraudulent resume. The resume controversy appeared related to how he presented his work on the Rubio campaign. Two former Rubio campaign staffers said he was not paid by the campaign. He also faced an accusation of sexual harassment at that time.

“I deny those past allegations, I resigned,” Ventry told POLITICO. “No one asked me to resign but I offered my resignation in order to not be a distraction to the committee’s work.”

Ventry’s LinkedIn page lists no employment before 2017. He recently worked at CRC, a public relations firm pushing to confirm Kavanaugh. A spokesperson for CRC told POLITICO: "Garrett was on a leave of absence."

"We were not aware of these allegations, which he denies," the spokesperson said. "As of this morning we have accepted his resignation."

Ventry did not reply to an email Friday night seeking comment on whether he remains a CRC employee or was a permanent Judiciary staffer.

Eliana Johnson and Elana Schor contributed to this report.