After stirring controversy by posting a series of tweets suggesting the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault misidentified her attacker, conservative strategist Ed Whelan will be taking a leave of absence from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the organization’s board announced Sunday.
The board said in a statement that Whelan, its president, offered his resignation Friday, but the board declined to accept it, deciding instead that he would take a leave of absence, and that the board will meet in a month to review the situation.
In a series of tweets that have since been deleted, Whelan said professor Christine Blasey Ford may have confused Kavanaugh for another classmate, one that he named and posted pictures of, along with the address of the house where he suggested the alleged attack took place.
Kavanaugh denied Ford’s allegation that, while the pair were in high school, he pinned her on a bed at a party and covered her mouth when she tried to scream while trying to remove her clothes.
In a statement, the EPPC board said they convened a special meeting Friday.
“After the meeting, Edward Whelan, who has led EPPC with integrity and excellence for many years, offered his resignation in light of what he described as an ‘appalling and inexcusable’ error in posting online a series of comments that he has now deleted and for which he promptly publicly apologized.”
Whelan apologized Friday on Twitter.
“After deliberation, the board declined to accept Mr. Whelan’s resignation,” the statement reads, “but determined that he will take a leave of absence from the organization during which time Yuval Levin, EPPC’s Vice President and Hertog Fellow, will be in charge.”
