Kavanaugh's lawyer defends him over 'Renate' references in high school yearbook: report

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Tension builds ahead of high-stakes Kavanaugh hearing

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford are scheduled to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday; chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel reports from Capitol Hill.

A lawyer for Judge Brett Kavanaugh defended her client this week in a  New York Times article about a woman mentioned in Kavanaugh's 1983 Georgetown Prep yearbook.

According to the Times, Renate Schroeder Dolphin, who knew Kavanaugh when both were in high school, claims she learned recently that her name appeared in the yearbook at least 14 times, and she regarded the references as "hurtful."

Kavanaugh was one of 13 graduating seniors in 1983 who referred to Dolphin on their personal pages, the report said. On Kavanaugh's page, he referred to himself as a "Renate Alumnius."

“I learned about these yearbook pages only a few days ago,” Dolphin said in a statement to the Times. “I don’t know what ‘Renate Alumnus’ actually means. I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way. I will have no further comment.”

Before the Times story was published, Dolphin had been one of 65 women who signed a letter supporting Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Alexandra Walsh, a lawyer for Kavanaugh, responded in a statement to the Times.

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“Judge Kavanaugh and Ms. Dolphin attended one high school event together and shared a brief kiss good night following that event,” the statement said. “They had no other such encounter. The language from Judge Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook refers to the fact that he and Ms. Dolphin attended that one high school event together and nothing else.”

But Dolphin denied she ever kissed Kavanaugh.

“I think Brett must have me confused with someone else, because I never kissed him,” she said through her lawyer.

Kavanaugh defended his high school behavior in a Fox News interview Monday.

“People might have had too many beers on occasion and people generally in high school,” he said. “I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit.”