College Republicans Rocked By Phony Sexual Assault Allegations Scandal
Darian Douraghy
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Two women are accusing senior members of the College Republican national leadership of asking them to fabricate sexual assault allegations against a male member in order to destroy his chances of winning an election within the organization.
The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) is the 129-year-old organization for Republican college and university students. Notable past members include President Calvin Coolidge, Karl Rove, Paul Ryan, and Roger Stone.
Courtney Britt, the recently-elected chair of the CRNC, ran against Clay Smith for south regional vice chair in 2019.
Sources in the CRNC told The Spectator that then-national chairman Chandler Thornton threw his support behind Britt, hoping to have her be his successor later on. The election was contentious and riddled with accusations of election fraud, with Britt being declared the winner by a margin of only 6 votes.
Two former female College Republicans recently claimed that a member of the organization’s national leadership pressured them to accuse Smith of sexual assault, ostensibly to hand Britt the election.
In July 2019, the 63rd Biennial Convention of College Republicans took place at the Washington DC Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Both women, speaking to The Spectator under the condition of anonymity, claim Benjamin Rajadurai, then the CRNC’s executive director, asked them to make up lies of sexual assault perpetrated by Smith on behalf of Thornton.
According to one of the women, on a night before the election had been concluded Rajadurai had invited her into his room before asking if she would get Smith drunk in his hotel room and then falsely accuse him of sexual assault. The woman said she cried and refused to take part.
‘I said absolutely not. I will not be doing that. It’s unacceptable. That is not how you win elections,’ she told The Spectator. ‘At one point, I said, “How can our party claim what the Democrats did to Justice Kavanaugh was so horrible when you’re trying to do what you’re accusing the Democrats of doing?”‘
Screenshots of a text conversation between Rajadurai and the woman on May 15, 2021, show Rajadurai admitting that he and Thornton had tried to ‘me too’ Smith. Rajadurai also apologized to the woman for asking her to take part in the scheme.
BR: The part that got out. That we tried to me too clay kinda sucks
W: well its not wrong
BR: That was a private convo between me and Chandler and it ultimately went no where
W: that was one of the most painful and hurtful things you’ve ever done to me…just as an FYI. like I think about that almost every day
BR: We were angry but we never tried do anything with it. I’m so sorry you heard it. I regret it every day
W: your best case scenario was that it actually happened. I never felt more worthless in my life
BR: No I was a piece of shit for it. To this day I regret it. I can’t imagine how it made you feel
Rajadurai apologized to the woman later in the conversation, saying ‘If I did I’m sorry.’ He claimed he didn’t remember asking her to accuse Smith of sexual assault, but said ‘I could see myself having done that’.
‘They wanted me to get him drunk and then accuse him,’ she said. ‘They wanted dirt on him. Why else would you do that if they didn’t want to win?’
Rajadurai denied the accusations from both women, saying to The Spectator “I don’t remember [the text conversations], and I deny that as well.”
The allegations have surfaced in the wake of Britt’s controversial victory as chair of the CRNC. State federations, including New York, Texas and Florida, are challenging the election’s legitimacy, pointing only around 60 percent of the College Republican chapters were allowed to vote. Thornton had allegedly overseen the disqualification of several College Republican federations over minor technicalities.
As a consequence of the disputes, several state federations including New York and Mississippi have officially seceded from the CRNC. Texas intends to follow a similar route, with the California and Florida federations contemplating a similar secession.
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