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During an appearance onAnderson Cooper 360on Wednesday, James Roche said he “knew” Kavanaugh was lying about never blacking out from drinking “because he was my roommate.
“We were in a room together, our beds were 10 feet apart for a couple of months,” Roche said.
Roche, who previously describedKavanaugh toTheNew Yorkeras a “notably heavy” drinker, went on to claim that Kavanaugh “was noticeably heavier in his drinking than other people” on campus.
“I didn’t socialize with Brett but being in the same room where he slept, I saw him when he arrived at home regularly and I saw him in the morning and I can tell you that he would come home and he was incoherent, stumbling,” Roche recalled. “He would throw up, and then in the morning would have a lot of trouble getting out of bed.”
Roche went on to confirm that he had seen Kavanaugh throw up after drinking on more than one occasion, and had also seen him in a state that Roche said he would “consider blackout drunk.” During histestimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaughdenied that he had ever blacked out from drinking. He has also denied Ford’s allegation of sexual assault.
While the Supreme Court nominee testified that the words described drinking games, Roche painted a very different picture.
“I was shocked when I heard that because those words were commonly used and they were references to sexual activities,” Roche said, adding that he “regularly” heard Kavanaugh and his friends using the words in that context.
In all of his public statements, Roche has also expressed support for Deborah Ramirez, who alleged that Kavanaugh exposed his penis during a party, put it in her face, and “caused her to touch it without her consent,” according to aNew Yorkerreport. Kavanaugh denied the allegation to the publication saying, “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen.”
“At the end of the day it feels like there are not enough people who are willing and can credibly say, ‘I know this girl and she didn’t lie and she wouldn’t lie and I can’t see any reason why she would,’ ” Roche continued, explaining why he came forward against Kavanaugh.
Roche stressed that he objects not to Kavanaugh drinking heavily, but to the fact that he has not taken “responsibility” for his actions.
On Wednesday, Roche also penned an op-ed forSlatein which he wrote that Kavanaugh’s “willingness to lie to avoid embarrassment throws doubt on his denials about the larger questions of sexual assault.
“In contrast, I cannot remember ever having a reason to distrust anything, large or small, that I have heard from Debbie,” he continued.
Roche previouslyreleased a statementin which he wrote that although he did not remember the alleged sexual assault Ramirez has described, he does remember Kavanaugh “frequently drinking excessively and becoming incoherently drunk.”
In the statement, Roche said he has no political agenda, and concluded, “I have shared this information with a small number of reporters who reached out to me directly because Debbie has a right to be heard and I believe her.”
source: people.com
