Sen. Corey Booker Target of Anonymous, Evidence-Free Assault Claims

Sen. Corey Booker, an African American politician and Democrat from New Jersey, has been accused on an anonymous Twitter account of sexually assaulting a man in a restroom in 2014, multiple media sources reported.

The accusations are lengthy and detailed and appear on a Twitter account under the handle "Deep Throat." The story told in the post involves Booker allegedly dragging a man into a restroom and attempting to encourage him to perform oral sex.

Calling the alleged encounter "a perversion of [his] natural daily routine," the person making the accusation claimed that Booker told him, "The Senate appreciates fine citizens like you. Especially this Senator."

The story told at the Twitter account goes on from there:

He then put his left hand on my groin, over my jeans and began to rub. I seem to remember saying something like "What is happening?" It was a bit like having vertigo. He then used his other hand to grab my left hand with his right and pulled it over to touch him. At the same time, he disengaged from rubbing me and used his left hand to push me to my knees from my shoulder for what was clearly a move to have me perform oral sex on him. At that point, I pulled away quite violently and told him I had to go.

#CoryBooker Sexually Assaulted Me
and why it won't matter to the #metoo movement. https://t.co/8VQuMGY8bj pic.twitter.com/D5DWnFmfzd– Deep Throat (@TheeDeepThroat) October 20, 2018

The allegations drew instant comparisons to those leveled against Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court was marred by accusations that while in high school he made a drunken rape attempt on a female classmate. The classmate in question, Christine Blasey Ford, was initially reluctant to testify before Congress about is the alleged assault, but eventually did air her story, which Kavanaugh strenuously denied. The issue quickly became partisan in nature, with Republicans standing by Kavanaugh and excoriating the Democrats, whom they accused of inventing the story.

Right-wing news sites predictably took up the cry for "an immediate and full investigation" against Booker, as was demanded in Kavanaugh's case, while other outlets viewed the allegations with skepticism. But some right-wing news outlets also expressed doubt, including Fox News, where Laura Ingraham denounced the anonymous allegations, reported The Washington Examiner.

"I believe it is a smear," the Examiner quoted Ingraham as saying. "I mean, if you're going to make an accusation – this is a supposedly a man making an accusation that something happened in a bathroom – if you're going to make that kind of accusation you better put your name to it."

But Ingraham didn't miss a chance at backhanded swipe at the Democrats.

"We have major media outlets during Kavanaugh rolling with this anonymous stuff, and you had people like Cory Booker out there tarring Brett Kavanaugh because of the 'mountain of evidence,' which ended up being nothing," she added.

During Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, Booker was among those who piushed for greater transparency and more time to look into Ford's claims.

Right-wing site RedState seized on the accusations, though.

"Let's put this all in context," the Red State article said, before going on to claim that Booker "has a history of sexual assault" and adding, "Cory Booker has hinted that he is gay," as though being gay were some sort of evidence of culpability when it comes to assault allegations.

Booker has recently been the subject of other sorts of speculation, as well – namely, whether he might be a viable presidential candidate in 2020.