Reporter: Source Says 'Team Working to Confirm Kavanaugh is Sticking by Him,' Confident Piling On Allegations Will Backfire

Just spoke to a source involved in Kavanaugh's confirmation process. Some insights:

"When the hearing was scheduled for Thursday, [Kavanaugh] and everybody involved in this process knew that that would basically be an invitation for open season," source says

— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) September 24, 2018

Source calls the new allegation in the New Yorker "outlandish" and says, "It would have been a much more effective strategy for them to just stick to the original allegation and do the best they can with it."

— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) September 24, 2018

On Avenatti saying he has another client with allegations, source says, "That's great. Bring it on. I mean, Michael Avenatti? I can't think of a better person to have on the other side. The guy's crazy, ok?"

— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) September 24, 2018

Finally, "Everybody deplores where we are right now," source says. But K "has a lifelong record of being a person of incredible integrity and good character. And I don't think anybody is prepared to say that 1 or 2 unsubstantiated discredited allegations could ruin that"

— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) September 24, 2018

In sum: team working to confirm Kavanaugh is sticking by him.

Also, here's a link to the New Yorker story with the new sexual misconduct allegation against him: https://t.co/aCpPt2LbzH

— Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) September 24, 2018

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE ALLEGATIONS MADE IN THE NEW YORKER ARTICLE ON JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH

"This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name--and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building--against these last-minute allegations." -- Judge Brett Kavanaugh

The accuser, Deborah Ramirez, admits in The New Yorker's piece that there were "significant gaps" in her memories about the event. 

• "She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident."
• "Ramirez acknowledged that there are significant gaps in her memories of the evening..."

By The New Yorker's own admission, Ramirez was reluctant to speak with certainty on the allegation. 

• "In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh's role in the alleged incident with certainty."

It took six days of "assessing her memories" for Ramirez to say she recalled Kavanaugh committing the alleged incident, and that came only after consulting with an attorney provided by the Democrats. 

• "After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections..."
• "Senate aides from Ramirez's home state of Colorado alerted a lawyer, Stanley Garnett, a former Democratic district attorney in Boulder, who currently represents her."

The New Yorker admits it has not confirmed through eyewitnesses Kavanaugh was even present at the party and other students who knew Kavanaugh said they never heard of the incident. 

• "The New Yorker has not confirmed with other eyewitnesses that Kavanaugh was present at the party."
• "In a statement, two of those male classmates who Ramirez alleged were involved in the incident, the wife of a third male student she said was involved, and three other classmates, Dino Ewing, Louisa Garry, and Dan Murphy, disputed Ramirez's account of events..."
• "We were the people closest to Brett Kavanaugh during his first year at Yale. He was a roommate to some of us, and we spent a great deal of time with him, including in the dorm where this incident allegedly took place."
• "Some of us were also friends with Debbie Ramirez during and after her time at Yale. We can say with confidence that if the incident Debbie alleges ever occurred, we would have seen or heard about it--and we did not."

Further, those classmates said that the allegations in the story would be completely out of character for Kavanaugh.  

• "The behavior she describes would be completely out of character for Brett."

A former student who was best friends with Ramirez said she never told her about the incident despite how close they were. 

• "The former friend who was married to the male classmate alleged to be involved, and who signed the statement, said of Ramirez, 'This is a woman I was best friends with. We shared intimate details of our lives. And I was never told this story by her, or by anyone else. It never came up. I didn't see it; I never heard of it happening.'"