Report: Christine Blasey Ford's Friend Leland Keyser 'Doesn't Believe' Assault Happened, Was Threatened

NEW: Leland Keyser— Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford's friend & alleged attendee at the party where the alleged assault occurred— now says she doesn't believe it happened.

"It just didn't make any sense... I don't have any confidence in the story."https://t.co/FQxVc7Td0p

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) September 16, 2019

Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Christine Blasey Ford, cast doubt on Ford's claims of being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at a high school party in the 1980s.

"I don't have any confidence in the story," Keyser told New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly in their new book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Last summer, Keyser seemed to say that, although she didn't remember the event, she still believed Ford.

"Ms. Keyser does not refute Dr. Ford's account, and she has already told the press that she believes Dr. Ford's account," Keyser's attorney wrote last year. "However, the simple and unchangeable truth is that she is unable to corroborate it because she has no recollection of the incident in question."

But Keyser now says she lacks confidence in Ford's account. "We spoke multiple times to Keyser, who also said that she didn't recall that get-together or others like it," Pogrebin and Kelly wrote. "In fact, she challenged Ford's accuracy."

"Those facts together I don't recollect, and it just didn't make any sense," Keyser told the authors.

"Keyser later said she felt pressure by both [Ford classmate Lucy] Gonella and Ford's friend Monica McLean to change her story," Pogrebin and Kelly wrote.

"I was told behind the scenes that certain things could spread about me if I didn't comply," Keyser told the authors.

"It would be impossible for me to be the only girl at a get-together with three guys, have her leave, and then not figure out how she's getting home," Keyser told Pogrebin and Kelly. "I just really didn't have confidence in the story."

Pogrebin and Kelly, however, say Ford's story "rings true" and challenged Keyser's recollections. "It is possible that Ford's account is wrong and that Keyser's lack of recollection is proof of that," they wrote, but said "Keyser's memory might be affected by her struggles with alcohol and other substances."

Christine Ford's lawyer Debra Katz says putting "an asterisk" next to Kavanaugh's name in case Kavanaugh attacked Roe v. Wade "is part of what motivated Christine." pic.twitter.com/zoFr2T8Aec

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 4, 2019