Senate Democrats on Wednesday demanded that President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh withdraw from consideration after a third woman came forward accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Moments after the allegations — which NBC News has not independently verified and were firmly denied by Kavanaugh — were made public, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that Kavanaugh should step aside. He also implored Republicans to "immediately suspend the proceedings related to" the judge's nomination.
“I strongly believe Judge Kavanaugh should withdraw from consideration. If he will not, at the very least, the hearing and vote should be postponed while the FBI investigates all of these allegations,” Schumer said.
In a letter to Trump, all 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee called for Kavanaugh's nomination to be withdrawn.
"The standard of character and fitness for a position on the nation's highest court must be higher than this. Judge Kavanaugh has staunchly declared his respect for women and issued blanket denials of any possible misconduct, but those declarations are in serious doubt," the lawmakers wrote.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said he was planning to file a lawsuit to halt Kavanaugh's confirmation process "due to unconstitutional presidential interference."
In a statement, Merkley’s office said it would file a suit "arguing that the Trump Administration's unprecedented withholding of substantial parts of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record has violated the constitutional separation of powers by preventing Senators from fulfilling their constitutional duty of advice and consent on the President’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States."
Merkley’s office said the senator would “ask the courts to intervene to prevent the process from continuing until Kavanaugh’s full record is available for public scrutiny.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters that he would launch an investigation into Kavanaugh, even if he was confirmed and made it onto the Supreme Court.
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The intensifying responses emerged after a woman accused Kavanaugh of engaging in repeated lewd behavior with women at parties in the early 1980s, and of putting drugs or alcohol in punch to cause women to become inebriated so they could be "gang raped" by a group of male partygoers.
The woman, Julie Swetnick, said that she was the victim of one of these gang rapes in approximately 1982. She did not allege that Kavanaugh participated in the rape, but said he and his friend Mark Judge were present when it occurred, adding that she was incapacitated by a drug placed in her drink without her consent and was unable to fight off her attackers.
Swetnick’s sworn declaration was released by her lawyer Michael Avenatti.
NBC News has not independently verified the accusations, and they were firmly denied by Kavanaugh.
"This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone," Kavanaugh said in a statement given to reporters by the White House. "I don't know who this is and this never happened."
