As highlighted by The Daily Wire on Monday, Leland Ingham Keyser, the close friend of Brett Kavanaugh-accuser Christine Blasey Ford named as a witness to the now-Supreme Court justice's alleged attempted rape decades ago, not only denied being at such a gathering described by the accuser — she also did not believe Blasey Ford was the victim, according to reporting from The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway.
"Buried at the end of their new book 'The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation,' reporters Robin Pogebrin and Kate Kelly quietly admit that Christine Blasey Ford’s lifelong friend Leland Keyser did not believe her friend's tale of a sexual assault at a party they both supposedly attended," Hemingway reported (emphasis added).
Moreover, according to Alex Beckel, the son of Mrs. Keyser and her ex-husband, former Fox News personality and ardent Democrat Bob Beckel, Keyser was pressured by Blasey Ford allies to lie during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings about the incident.
"Nearly a year after Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, most have moved on. But for one of the key players in that fight, Leland Keyser, the struggle continues," a GoFundMe account set up for Mrs. Keyser by her son reads.
"Despite her lifelong friendship with Christine Blasey Ford and her opposition to Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, Keyser resisted immense personal pressure and courageously came forward with the truth, putting everything in her life at risk," the GoFundMe post continues. "As a result, she faces great personal hardship. The harsh glare of the public eye has taken a tremendous physical, emotional, and financial toll on her."
“Leland stood up and did what was right when she had everything to lose and nothing to gain," the post added.
The account added a quote from Hemingway and Carrie Severino's book "Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court":
"The person with the most to lose and the least to gain for telling the truth about Kavanaugh may have been Leland Ingham Keyser, who put her commitment to the truth above her political preferences and even friendships."
Beckel's GoFundMe page for his mother, as well as support for the book "Justice on Trial," reinforce reporting about the pressures put on Mrs. Keyser to lie in favor of Ford.
As noted by Hemingway, "A group text was formed in which friends such as Cheryl Amitay and Lulu Gonella discussed how to get [Keyser] to say something more helpful" to Ford's case, adding, "An unnamed man on the text suggested that they defame her as an addict. Keyser has been in recovery for some time, as her friends know and as has previously been reported."
“Leland is a major stumbling block," Amitay reportedly said, "[w]hile asserting she didn’t want her to make anything up out of whole cloth, she offered ideas for things that could sound supportive of Ford’s story, such as that she’d been in similar situations with Blasey Ford that summer."
“I was told behind the scenes that certain things could be spread about me if I didn’t comply,” Keyser told New York Times reporters.
As noted by The Daily Wire’s Joseph Curl, Hemingway's reporting runs counter to a Washington Post report from last September:
"[T]hrough her attorneys, Keyser said at the time that she did not know Kavanaugh and had no memory of the party nor any attempted sexual assault, shattering Ford's claim. The Washington Post, though, wrote in September 2018 that 'she believes Ford's assertions.'"
Last year, Blasey Ford sent a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) claiming Kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a Maryland house party in the early 1980s, though the accuser was unable to specify exactly where or when the alleged incident took place. The dubious claim was found to be uncorroborated, the alleged witnesses she named denied any knowledge of the party, and the Senate Judiciary Committee ultimately found that there was "no evidence to substantiate any of the claims."
"In neither the committee's investigation nor in the supplemental background investigation conducted by the FBI was there ANY evidence to substantiate or corroborate any of the allegations," the Committee wrote.
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