Let’s talk about the House of Kavanaugh—specifically, the hefty mortgage on said house.
[THREAD]
[THREAD]
1/ In 2006, Brett & Ashley Kavanaugh bought a house for $1.22m. They put $245k down, a number that does not appear on his financial disclosures of 2005, which show net worth of $91k.
2/ The mortgage payments ($4600/mo.) alone were more than what Brett Kavanaugh took home in 2006 after taxes. His wife did not add enough to the mix to make up the difference.
3/ Even in the go-go mid-2000s, at height of RE bubble, why would any bank with a functional abacus approve such a terrible loan? And why would Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh agree to it?
4/ Within a year of buying the house, the family was deep in credit card debt. By the end of 2006, Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh owed five financial institutions, combined, a cool MILLION dollars.
5/ How did the Kavanaugh family manage to navigate this financial tightrope without going broke? Maybe his parents floated him.
So let’s assume that Everett Edward Kavanaugh, Jr. had an “in” at the bank, and managed to secure the loan.
So let’s assume that Everett Edward Kavanaugh, Jr. had an “in” at the bank, and managed to secure the loan.
6/ That Daddy Kavanaugh not only generated the down payment, and also sprung for all of the mortgage payments, leaving Brett and Ashley to cover everything else.
7/ Even THEN, Brett Kavanaugh’s take-home pay in 2006 — he wasn’t sworn in as a federal judge until June of that year — was not enough to cover his young family’s cost of living in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
8/ If Kavanaugh did receive such significant assistance from his parents, why was he not forthright about their largesse? Surely there is no shame in accepting family help.
9/ Did Kavanaugh, like Trump, seek to present a false narrative about the nature of his own wealth? Was he concerned about the tax implications?
Or is there a more sinister explanation?
Or is there a more sinister explanation?
10/ Rumors of Kavanaugh’s gambling are rampant enough that he was asked about them repeatedly by the Senate Judiciary Committee. He denied it, of course. I have no proof he wasn't truthful in this response.
11/ It is certainly possible to obtain $245,000 by, say, betting $25,000 on some outcome at 10-to-1 odds, and winning the wager. The transaction would be anonymous, and the payout could very well be made in cash.
12/ Let me be clear: I have no idea whether or not Kavanaugh bets on sporting events. I have no proof one way or the other. It is more likely, in fact, that his income was subsidized by his wealthy parents than by betting big on his beloved Washington Nationals.
13/ But given:
1) the sudden infusion of a quarter mil to buy his house, 2) the wild ebbs and flows of his finances for the last decade, 3) the odd story about his purchasing baseball tickets for “old friends,” 4) his oft-stated love of sports, 5) his propensity to lie...
1) the sudden infusion of a quarter mil to buy his house, 2) the wild ebbs and flows of his finances for the last decade, 3) the odd story about his purchasing baseball tickets for “old friends,” 4) his oft-stated love of sports, 5) his propensity to lie...
14/
6) his apparent comfort level with political dark money, and even 7) the permissive stance of the American Catholic Church on certain forms of gambling (i.e., bingo), I will say this:
6) his apparent comfort level with political dark money, and even 7) the permissive stance of the American Catholic Church on certain forms of gambling (i.e., bingo), I will say this:
15/ In the absence of proof of his family’s aid with Kavanaugh's $245,000 down payment, a big gambling windfall cannot be ruled out as a possibility.
16/ Conversely, gambling losses to underworld bookmakers may require a sudden and urgent infusion of cash. A way to accumulate ready cash is to front a large purchase for a group of friends, charge the purchase to credit cards, & then collect the reimbursements in cash or check.
17/ Which is exactly what Kavanaugh admits he did, by being the purchaser of Nationals tickets for his buddies.
18/ Let me reiterate: I have no way of knowing if Kavanaugh is a high-stakes gambler, and I’m not accusing him of being one. I really hope he's not, and that we don't have a SCOTUS judge who cavorts with bookies.
19/ However, if Kavanaugh was telling the truth about not ever gambling, he needs to explain how he managed to come up with $245,000 to pay for his house in 2006, and also, how his massive credit card debt suddenly vanished ten years later.
20/ His Senate testimony does not come remotely close to explaining the provenance of that money. Gambling rumors will forever hound Kavanaugh if he doesn’t put them to rest with more details about his finances.
If a sitting Supreme Court Justice is beholden to unknown creditors, we need to know who they are — even if the unknown creditors turn out to be Ma and Pa Kavanaugh. How else can we be sure he isn’t compromised?
#WhoOwnsKavanaugh
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#WhoOwnsKavanaugh
[END]
h/t @OPCGhost @BySteveReilly @LincolnsBible @ninaandtito @soychicka for the help w/research and etc.
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