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KAVANAUGH HEARING | Ford finishes testimony; judge speaks next
The Latest on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh:
3:15 p.m.
Battling to rescue his Supreme Court nomination, a beleaguered Brett Kavanaugh forcefully fought back Thursday against allegations that he’d sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when both were high school students, telling Congress that her and others’ allegations have “totally and permanently destroyed” his family and his reputation.
In a loud voice, the conservative jurist told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his confirmation process had become “a national disgrace.”
“You have replace advice and consent with search and destroy,” he said.
2:35 p.m.
The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when both were teenagers has finished her testimony before a Senate panel.
California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford finished her testimony Thursday afternoon, about four hours after the hearing began. Ford alleges that one night in the summer of 1982, a drunken Kavanaugh forced her down on a bed, groped her and tried to take off her clothes. She said she was ultimately able to escape.
Ford showed no hesitancy in affirming the crucial question about the alleged attack, telling senators her certainty that Kavanaugh was responsible was “100 percent.”
Lawmakers are expected to next hear from Kavanaugh, who has denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, the memoir of Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge appears to support one aspect of Christine Blasey Ford’s account of the summer of 1982.
Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that she ran into Judge at the Potomac Village Safeway where he worked six to eight weeks after she says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while Judge watched. Ford said Judge was arranging shopping carts and seemed “nervous” to see her.
Judge wrote in his book “Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk” that he worked at the local supermarket the summer before his senior year, which would have been 1982. Judge says he worked there to raise money for football camp.
Ford has been criticized for saying she could not remember the precise date of her alleged assault.
1:30 p.m.
A long-serving Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of a sexual assault when they were teenagers is “attractive” and “pleasing.”
Utah’s Orrin Hatch made the comments as the committee broke for lunch after hearing several hours of testimony from Christine Blasey Ford.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and when Hatch was asked whether he found Ford to be believable, he said: “It’s too early to say. I don’t think she’s uncredible. But it’s way early.”
And when a reporter asked the 84-year-old Hatch what he meant by saying the 51-year-old was “attractive,” he said: “In other words, she’s pleasing.”
He said: “I’ll say this. She’s attractive, and she’s a nice person and I wish her well.”
Hatch is a senior member of the committee who was also at the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings.
1:15 p.m.
Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace says Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is “a disaster” for Republicans.
Wallace and some others on Fox have used breaks in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to say Ford has performed strongly her early testimony. And they’re expressing frustration about the line of questioning by the prosecutor hired by Republicans to question Ford about her sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh.
The commentators’ assessment is important because the White House says President Donald Trump, who was flying from New York to Washington as the hearing started, was watching Fox’s coverage.
Fox’s Brit Hume put it this way about Ford: “The more hesitant, the more fragile she has seemed, the more credible and powerful she seems to the audience.”
Meanwhile, President Trump’s eldest son is taking issue with Ford’s testimony.
Donald Trump Jr. is a fierce defender of his father and he frequently sounds off on Twitter. He’s citing Ford’s description of her fear of flying and her saying that she finds it easier when she’s going on vacation.
Trump Jr. tweets that he’s “no psychology professor,” but he says it seems “weird” him “that someone could have a selective fear of flying.”
12:55 p.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Christine Blasey Ford declared Thursday that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as he and a friend shared “uproarious laughter” in a locked room at a 1980s high school gathering, recounting her allegations to the Senate Judiciary Committee and a riveted nation in a drama that threatens to derail Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
Her account, delivered in a soft and sometimes-halting voice, came as the Judiciary panel began an extraordinary session that Republicans hope will let them salvage Kavanaugh’s chances of joining the high court. She showed no hesitancy in affirming the crucial question about the alleged incident, telling senators her certainty that Kavanaugh was her attacker was “100 percent.”
The conservative jurist’s Senate confirmation had seemed assured until Ford came forward and then other women emerged with additional allegations of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh, now 53, has denied them all and awaited his own chance to testify later Thursday. It has become less clear that Republican leaders will be able to hold GOP senators behind President Donald Trump’s nominee.
In an election-season battle that’s being waged along a polarized nation’s political and cultural fault lines, Trump and most Republicans have rallied behind Kavanaugh. They’ve accused Ford and the other women of making unproven allegations and have questioned why they’d not publicly revealed them for decades.
But with televisions across the nation tuned to the hearing — senators among those riveted to their screens — it was unclear how lawmakers who will ultimately decide Kavanaugh’s fate will assess Ford’s credibility.
Ford has said Kavanaugh trapped her on a bed and tried undressing her, grinding his body against her and muffling her cries with her hand. “I believed he was going to rape me,” she said in her opening statement.
Democrats have rallied strongly behind Ford.
Asked by Patrick Leahy of Vermont for her strongest memory of the alleged incident, Ford mentioned the two boys’ “laughter — the uproarious laughter between the two and they’re having fun at my expense.”
12:11 p.m.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The former Republican senator running for Ohio governor says the allegations of a woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault must be taken seriously.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told The Associated Press Thursday senators must allow the hearing process to play out before drawing conclusions.
DeWine says that’s his “prosecutorial background coming out, in that the evidence needs to be looked at.”
His statements follow initial support for Republican President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh on Twitter.
He joins Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich among GOP officials in the closely divided bellwether state who urged an even-handed treatment of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony Thursday.
DeWine’s Democratic rival, Richard Cordray, the former federal consumer watchdog, has criticized DeWine’s previous support of Kavanaugh.
11:17 a.m.
Christine Blasey Ford says she is certain she did not mistakenly identify Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as her attacker at a party when they were both in high school more than 30 years ago.
Ford was responding to questions from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein about how she could be sure it was Kavanaugh and not someone else who assaulted her in the bedroom of a home in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C.
Ford said, "The same way I am sure I am talking to you right now."
Feinstein said: "So what you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity."
Ford's response: "Absolutely not."
11:10 a.m.
Christine Blasey Ford says the alleged sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh "drastically altered her life for a very long time."
Ford is testifying Thursday at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations. He is expected to testify later.
She says she was assaulted by Kavanaugh during a small gathering in high school.
Ford says she suffered anxiety, phobia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-like symptoms.
She says the primary impact on her life was the four years after it happened. She struggled in college both academically and socially, and had an especially difficult time forming friendships with boys.
She says it also manifested more recently. She asked her husband to make two front doors in their California home as a result of the attack, so she could have a way out if necessary.
11:08 a.m.
The Phoenix prosecutor Republicans have hired to handle much of their questioning at a hearing on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has begun her questioning of Kavanaugh's accuser.
Rachel Mitchell began her questioning of Christine Blasey Ford on Thursday. The California psychology professor accuses Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her when they were teens.
Mitchell told Ford that the first thing that struck her about Ford's opening statement is "that you're terrified."
Mitchell said: "I just wanted to let you know I'm very sorry. That's not right."
Republicans' hiring of Mitchell will avoid having their all-male contingent interrogating Ford about the details of what she describes as a harrowing assault.
11:05 a.m.
Christine Blasey Ford says she wanted just one thing as she began testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee: some caffeine.
Ford, the 51-year-old mom of two from California, offered a light moment Thursday after being sworn in for testimony. She is alleging Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens. Kavanaugh denies assaulting her.
Told by GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley that he intended to provide a respectful and comfortable setting, she informed him she anticipated "needing some caffeine."
Ford provided her opening statement in a soft-spoken voice that was cracking at times.
When she finished, Grassley asked if she needed a short break.
Ford told the chairman she was "ok." She held up a cup and said she "got the coffee."
10:55 a.m.
Senators sat riveted on the dais as Christine Blasey Ford gave her testimony about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who she says sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s.
Most of the 21 senators on the panel leaned forward. None appeared to take notes. Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota appeared to wipe away a tear.
The room was totally quiet as Ford described the night she said she was assaulted. People stayed in their seats in the small Judiciary committee room where Ford had asked to testify.
It was a far cry from Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing earlier this month, in which screaming protesters were hauled away at regular intervals. Most attending Thursday's hearing appear to be ticketed guests of senators, with few if any members of the general public let in.
10:53 a.m.
Christine Blasey Ford says she "agonized daily" over the decision on whether to come forward to speak about sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Ford is testifying Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She is telling the committee that Kavanaugh barricaded her in a bedroom at a house party during high school and got on top of her and assaulted her.
She says that over the years, she convinced herself that because she was not raped, she should just pretend that it didn't happen. But when it became clear Kavanaugh would likely be named to the court, she said she faced a difficult choice.
She says that she sent a letter detailing the allegations to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California but had planned not to come forward. But the letter was leaked to the press. She then decided that she should speak out to tell her story in her own words.
She says her goal is to be helpful.
10:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump was traveling from New York City back to Washington as a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault began her testimony.
Trump flew aboard a helicopter from New York City to John F. Kennedy International Airport Thursday morning, before boarding Air Force One. He spent several days in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.
The president boarded Air Force One in the late morning. Trump and staff planned to watch the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Air Force One as they traveled back to Washington.
The hearing began with testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh has denied the charges.
10:42 a.m.
Christine Blasey Ford says she came before the Senate Judiciary Committee not because she wanted to, but because she believed it's her civic duty.
Ford spoke Thursday at a hearing on her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Her voice cracked as she spoke to the committee, calling Kavanaugh: "the boy who sexually assaulted me."
She says that the assault has been seared into her memory and has haunted her.
She says Kavanaugh held her down on a bed during a party with a few other high school kids and assaulted her, and put his hand over her mouth so she could not scream. She says she thought he would try to rape her.
Kavanaugh has denied any allegations. He will speak to the committee later Thursday.
10:37 a.m.
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh raise "real questions of character."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California says three women have made allegations of sexual assault and other inappropriate actions against Kavanaugh that are at odds with Kavanaugh's recollections of his youth.
Feinstein was speaking at the start of a hearing to explore Christine Blasey Ford's claims that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers.
Feinstein says the FBI should have investigated allegations made by Ford and two other women, just as it did in 1991 when Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her.
The California Democrat says Republicans already have indicated they intend to proceed with a vote on Kavanaugh.
10:25 a.m.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says the committee has tried to investigate two other allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but it has not received cooperation from the accusers.
Grassley made the comments Thursday at a hearing where the first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is going to testify on her accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when they were teens.
Since Ford's allegations, two other women have said they were assaulted by Kavanaugh. Grassley says the committee made several requests for evidence. He says neither attorney has made their clients available.
Both attorneys have said they have tried to get their clients heard, but the committee won't listen.
Kavanaugh has denied all of the allegations.
10:20 a.m.
A woman who came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he doesn't belong on the nation's highest court.
Julie Swetnick said in an interview with Showtime's "The Circus" that she didn't want to come forward a day before Kavanaugh was set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but that "circumstances brought it out that way." An excerpt of her interview was released Thursday.
In a sworn statement, Swetnick accused Kavanaugh and his high school friend Mark Judge of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women, among other accusations.
The Associated Press hasn't been able to corroborate the claims, and continues to investigate. Both Kavanaugh and Judge have denied misconduct.
Swetnick says she wants the American public to have the facts and "judge for themselves."
10:15
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is opening a hearing on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with an apology to both Kavanaugh and his accuser for the way they've been treated, saying they and their families have received "vile threats."
The Iowa Republican promised a "safe, comfortable and dignified" atmosphere Thursday as his committee hears from both.
Grassley also said it had been a "terrible couple of weeks" for both Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychology professor who accuses Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her when they were teens.
The committee is expected to hear hours of testimony Thursday. Ford will testify first. Kavanaugh is scheduled to testify later in the day.
10:05 a.m.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has gaveled into session Thursday's dramatic hearing with Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Ford, in prepared remarks submitted to the committee, alleges that Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes when they were teens. Kavanaugh, in his prepared testimony, says he's never done anything "remotely resembling" what Ford describes.
Grassley and the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, will deliver opening statements at the start of the hearing. Then Ford will be sworn in as a witness and deliver her opening statement. Kavanaugh will testify later, after her session is over.
The 11 Republican and 10 Democratic members of the panel will have five minutes each to question Ford and Kavanaugh in alternating turns.
Republicans have hired an outside attorney, Phoenix prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, to handle much of their questioning.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday turns on the credibility of its two star witnesses, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says he sexually assaulted her.
But there is much more electrifying the atmosphere in the cramped hearing room and the nation beyond the cameras. Allegations by other women. Death threats against the witnesses’ families and lawmakers considering the testimony. President Donald Trump’s Twitter rants. The #MeToo movement and the looming Nov. 6 midterm elections.
And a critical question that can’t be immediately answered: Can Senate Republicans get a 51-49 majority in Kavanaugh’s favor? Even Trump, Kavanaugh’s patron, says he could be swayed by Ford’s testimony.
“We have lit a match,” said retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent Trump critic. “Do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?”
A guide to viewing the spectacle:
WHEN TO WATCH
Gavel-to-gavel coverage can be found on many news channels, with proceedings expected to begin at 10 a.m. The hearing room seats only a few dozen people not on the committee. A small pool of journalists will be allowed in, with a limited number of cameras. That’s a change — at Ford’s request — from Kavanaugh’s first four days of hearings in the massive, lit-for-television hearing room often used for high-profile proceedings.
AT ISSUE
Whether Kavanaugh’s nomination to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court is still viable.
Ford says Kavanaugh pushed her into a room, groped her and covered her mouth when she tried to scream during a high school party. Kavanaugh has denied that he ever sexually assaulted anyone.
WHO ELSE IS WATCHING
Trump, in an unusually qualified way.
On the eve of the hearing and for the first time, Trump acknowledged that accusations of sexual misconduct leveled against him affect his views on charges against other men.
“It’s happened to me many times,” the president said at his news conference in New York, claiming he’d been falsely accused by “four or five women.”
In fact, more than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
But he also said Ford’s testimony, and the accounts of other accusers could prompt him to change course.
“It’s possible that I’ll hear that and I’ll say I’m changing my mind,” Trump said.
THE ORDER OF THINGS
There may not be much order, if Kavanaugh’s first round of hearings is any clue. They erupted almost instantly into shouting and general bedlam — and that was before anyone was talking about sexual assault allegations.
This time, because of more limited seating, any protesters would have limited ability to disrupt the proceedings.
But here is the plan: Ford is to testify first. Kavanaugh responds. Each can talk for as long as he or she wants, according to Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
At Ford’s request, Kavanaugh will not be in the room when she testifies.
Each of the 11 Republican senators and each of the 10 Democratic senators on the committee will have a chance to ask five minutes of questions, Grassley said. The questioning will alternate between Republicans and Democrats.
SOME REPUBLICANS MIGHT PASS
Republicans have no good choices when it comes to cross-examining Ford because every GOP member of the panel is a man.
The optics of men challenging a woman who says she’s been a victim of sexual assault are so bad that the committee has asked a female prosecutor from Arizona to help with the questioning.
But, Grassley told reporters on Wednesday, “Any Republican that wants to claim their five minutes can claim their five minutes.”
THE STAR QUESTIONER
Look for a new face in Washington to take a high profile at the proceedings at the behest of Senate Republicans. She is Rachel Mitchell, a Republican from Arizona with decades of experience prosecuting sex crimes.
Mitchell works in the Maricopa County attorney’s office in Phoenix as the chief of the special victims division. She supervises attorneys who handle cases involving child molestation, sexual assault and computer crimes against children in Arizona’s most populous county.
EVIDENCE
A green-and-white scribbled calendar, complete with doodles and capital letters marked “BEACH WEEK” is Kavanaugh’s 1982 summer calendar, when he was a senior in high school. It’s also part of his defense against Ford’s accusation that he attended the party at which she says the assault happened.
The committee late Wednesday said it had interviewed two men who said they, and not Kavanaugh, had the encounter with Ford that she describes. The committee did not say what came of those conversations.
Look also for four sworn affidavits from people who say Ford told them about the alleged assault before Trump nominated Kavanaugh.
Ford also provided the committee with the results of a polygraph test on her accusation. The documents indicate Ford took the test Aug. 7 at a Hilton Hotel in Maryland and seem to support her claim that she passed it, though there’s no independent expert verification.
PRESSURE ON DEMOCRATS
Five minutes isn’t much for a potential presidential candidate, but they’re likely to take what they can get. Look for at least two Democratic senators on the panel, said to be considering challenging Trump in 2020, to make the most of their time: Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Both took turns aggressively questioning Kavanaugh during his first four days of confirmation hearings in what many saw as a prelude to presidential primary campaigns.
Trump scoffed that his would-be 2020 challengers looked “like fools.”
SPEAKING OF TRUMP
He’s said to be seething about the slow Republican-set pace of the Kavanaugh proceedings and suggested at the United Nations that he might have preferred to hold votes on the confirmation even without hearing from Ford. Confirming conservative justices to the Supreme Court is, in his view, central to his compact with his core supporters.
Not likely to improve Trump’s mood is another bit of potential unpleasantness on his schedule Thursday: A meeting to decide the fate of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling. Trump indicated Wednesday that he may delay the meeting so he can focus on the hearing instead.
OTHER ACCUSERS
Look for whether Democrats succeed in raising the two other women accusing Kavanaugh of misconduct.
One, Deborah Ramirez, told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while they were both students at Yale. She has acknowledged consuming alcohol at the time, which clouded some of her memories.
The other, Julie Swetnick, has accused Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women, among other things. The Associated Press hasn’t been able to corroborate the claims.
Kavanaugh and Judge have denied the allegations. Kavanaugh said he doesn’t know Swetnick and “this never happened.”
YOU AGAIN?
They won’t be in the hearing room. But it’s worth noting that Swetnick’s lawyer is Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, who says Trump tried to hush up their 2006 sexual tryst.
Avenatti says he, too, is considering running for president in 2020.