Investigators from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee say that a Louisville woman lied about being the author of an anonymous letter that included sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
In a referral to the Justice Department, the Judiciary Committee’s Chair Chuck Grassley said that a Louisville resident named Judy Munro-Leighton falsely claimed that she was the author of an anonymous handwritten letter that alleged Kavanaugh and another boy raped her in a car in high school.
The letter was signed under the alias “Jane Doe” from Oceanside, California and had been sent to California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris in September during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process and was published on the committee’s website.
Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said that the committee received an email from Munro-Leighton on Oct 3, claiming she was the author of the letter.
Investigators tracked down Munro-Leighton because of her "relatively unique name," Grassley said, and discovered that she lived in Kentucky. Grassley described her as a "left-wing activist.”
In an interview with investigators, Munro-Leighton admitted that she wasn’t the author of the letter but lied about it “as a way to grab attention.”
“I am not Jane Doe . . . but I did read Jane Doe’s letter. I read the transcript of the call to your Committee. . . . I saw it online. It was news,” Munro-Leighton said according to Grassley’s referral.
Records show Munro-Leighton has been a board member of the Louisville Metro Democratic Club and worked as a history professor at Jefferson Community and Technical College.
Munro-Leighton did not return a request for comment on Saturday.
Grassley has requested that Munro-Leighton be investigated for obstruction and making false statements to the committee.
The assault accusations included in the anonymous letter were among many made against Kavanaugh during his confirmation process. The Senate ended up voting 50-48 to confirm him.
Grassley’s referral of Munro-Leighton is the fourth time he has asked federal authorities to investigate people involved with the Kavanaugh confirmation process.