NBC News reports:
A press adviser helping lead the Senate Judiciary Committee’s response to a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has stepped down amid evidence he was fired from a previous political job in part because of a sexual harassment allegation against him.
Garrett Ventry, 29, who served as a communications aide to the committee chaired by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had been helping coordinate the majority party’s messaging in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago at a high school party. In a response to NBC News, Ventry denied any past “allegations of misconduct.”
Reuters reports:
Ventry was previously fired from the office of North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell because a female employee of the North Carolina GOP General Assembly accused him of sexual harassment.
A former classmate of Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, claims Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party 36 years ago. Ford has until 2:30 p.m. Saturday to notify the committee whether she plans to testify before congress.
Per Politico, Grassley aide Garrett Ventry, who has resigned after NBC News asked about past sexual harassment allegations, worked for Grassley because CRC wanted someone on the hill.
CRC is the GOP firm that helped Ed Whelan w/his irresponsible thread.https://t.co/8JlDCXFtSY pic.twitter.com/EGfzPZYaxr
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) September 22, 2018
You know you have a problem on your hands when the guy who is your spokesman, Garrett Ventry, to defend Republicans’ handling of the Kavanaugh nomination is forced to resign because he had been fired from a previous job for sexual harassment allegations. https://t.co/q8tSWdVKjf
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 22, 2018