Report: Friend of Christine Blasey Ford ‘felt pressured’ to change her statement

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

When Christine Blasey Ford’s decades-old allegation of sexual misconduct first emerged against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Ford named her lifelong friend, Leland Keyser, as a witness. But in a sworn statement on Sept. 23, Keyser said she had no recollection of the party or incident in question and had never met Kavanaugh in her life. Just six days later, after Ford testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Keyser issued another statement, revised to emphasize that she believed her friend. Now it appears she may have been pressured to make that change.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Keyser informed the FBI in a recent interview she “felt pressure by Dr. Ford’s allies” to revise her initial statement, “according to people familiar with the matter.” She did clarify it, but perhaps not as substantially as Ford’s allies may have hoped.

Text messages between Keyser and at least one of those friends of Ford, former FBI agent Monica McLean, were included in an additional packet of information the FBI attached to their report, the Journal reported.

Pressure to revise statement

The Sept. 23 statement made clear that Keyser had no recollection of either the party or the incident as described by Ford, and had never met Kavanaugh. The revised statement on Sept. 29 — which still maintained she had no recollection of the incident and that she’d never met Kavanaugh — clarified that Keyser believed Ford and didn’t intend to “refute” her story, but merely was unable to corroborate it.

Friends of Ford, including McLean, are alleged to have contacted Keyser during those six days to warn her that her initial statement was being used by Kavanaugh and Republicans to cast doubt on Ford’s allegation, and urged her to change it to be more supportive of the accuser.

Tangled web

McLean is also the woman who allegedly was coached by Ford on taking a polygraph test, according to a sworn statement from an ex-boyfriend of Ford.

Ford had explicitly denied any such activity while testifying under oath before the Senate — so if the allegation is true, Ford may have perjured herself. McLean has denied ever receiving any polygraph coaching from Ford.

Denial from McLean’s attorney

It is worth noting that the attorneys for Keyser and Ford, as well as the FBI, all declined to provide comments for the Journal’s report.

McLean’s attorney, David Laufman, denied the report, saying, “Any notion or claim that Ms. McLean pressured Leland Keyser to alter Ms. Keyser’s account of what she recalled concerning the alleged incident between Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh is absolutely false.”

Laufman was formerly a top Justice Department official and interviewed Hillary Clinton in 2016 along with fired FBI agent Peter Strzok, according to the Daily Caller. Laufman resigned in February after being implicated in the Trump-Russia dossier conspiracy, his name being revealed in text messages exchanged between Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page.

[show_poll poll_id=892]

To those who supported Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh, corroboration of Ford’s account by Keyser was key, and it’s now looking like they went out of their way to try and shape Keyser’s statement to be of more assistance to the efforts at dragging down Kavanaugh when the initial statement fell woefully short of that goal.

It will be interesting to see how this story continues to unravel going forward. How many other high-profile Democrat operatives and former Obama administration officials will come out of the woodwork as being involved in this whole anti-Kavanaugh charade?

232 Responses

  1. Hey would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with? I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S My apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!

  2. I’m also commenting to let you understand of the notable experience my friend’s daughter enjoyed going through your webblog. She figured out lots of details, with the inclusion of what it is like to have a great helping character to let other folks clearly fully understand chosen grueling issues. You truly exceeded her expected results. Many thanks for displaying these interesting, dependable, educational and also easy tips on the topic to Sandra.

  3. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your article seem to be running off the screen in Opera. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The design and style look great though! Hope you get the problem solved soon. Kudos

  4. I enjoy you because of all your work on this site. My aunt take interest in conducting internet research and it’s simple to grasp why. All of us hear all about the dynamic tactic you present helpful information by means of this web site and as well as invigorate participation from the others about this issue while my girl is now starting to learn a lot of things. Take advantage of the remaining portion of the new year. You have been doing a wonderful job.

  5. It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will talk about this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  6. My spouse and i felt so contented when Edward could conclude his researching while using the precious recommendations he acquired out of the web page. It’s not at all simplistic to simply happen to be making a gift of strategies which the rest could have been trying to sell. And we all know we’ve got the writer to thank because of that. The entire explanations you made, the easy blog navigation, the friendships you can help to engender – it’s got most great, and it is helping our son and us consider that this concept is cool, and that is particularly important. Thank you for all!

  7. You’ve made some decent points there. I checked on the internet to find out more about the issue and found most people will go along with your views on this site.

  8. Have you ever thought about writing an ebook or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog based on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.

  9. Hello would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m looking to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a difficult time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!

  10. Nice blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Thanks a lot

  11. My developer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on a number of websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform. I have heard excellent things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!

  12. What i do not realize is in truth how you’re not actually a lot more smartly-liked than you may be now. You’re so intelligent. You realize thus considerably on the subject of this topic, made me personally imagine it from so many numerous angles. Its like men and women don’t seem to be interested except its something to do with Girl gaga! Your personal stuffs great. At all times deal with it up!

  13. Can I simply say what a relief to search out someone who really knows what theyre speaking about on the internet. You definitely know the right way to convey a problem to mild and make it important. Extra people need to read this and understand this aspect of the story. I cant believe youre no more standard since you positively have the gift.

  14. Heya! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing many months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?

  15. Hey! Quick question that’s entirely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when browsing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to correct this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share. Many thanks!

  16. Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all of us you really recognize what you’re speaking approximately! Bookmarked. Please additionally talk over with my site =). We will have a link alternate arrangement between us!

  17. Im not sure where you are getting your info, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for fantastic info I was looking for this information for my mission.

  18. This website is really a stroll-via for the entire information you needed about this and didnt know who to ask. Glimpse right here, and youll undoubtedly uncover it.

  19. Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I to find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I’m hoping to present something again and help others such as you helped me.

  20. Im not sure where you’re getting your information, but good topic. I must spend a while learning much more or understanding more. Thank you for fantastic info I was on the lookout for this information for my mission.

  21. certainly like your website however you have to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to inform the reality nevertheless Ill definitely come back again.

  22. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, Ill try to get the hang of it!

  23. You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I in finding this topic to be really one thing which I believe I would never understand. It kind of feels too complex and extremely vast for me. I’m taking a look forward to your subsequent put up, Ill attempt to get the dangle of it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular