Kavanaugh’s D-DAY vote goes ahead: Republicans decide Judiciary Committee WILL vote on Kavanaugh

Republican senators say the Judiciary Committee plans to vote Friday morning on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second ranking-Republican, had said Thursday that the GOP conference would meet and ‘see where we are.’ They later announced that they still intended to vote Friday on Kavanaugh. 

It comes after Kavanaugh delivered a fighting end to his Senate testimony Thursday when asked directly if he was innocent of claims he tried to rape Christine Ford or had any doubts about his integrity.

‘100 per cent. Not a scintilla. Swear to God,’ he said. 

The forceful declaration capped an angry and emotional afternoon in which Kavanaugh fought for the Supreme Court, knowing that he was being watched by an entire country – and Donald Trump, the president who nominated him.

He got immediate approval from Trump, who tweeted ‘Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him.

‘His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!’

Now Kavanaugh faces a committee vote on Friday and a first floor vote by the whole Senate on Saturday – with Republican sources saying it is still too close to be sure they have the 50 votes needed to get him through when the full Senate decides.

The embattled nominee began with a 45-minute, 5,200-word opening statement, throwing away a far briefer statement he had already submitted, to instead issue a fiery denunciation of Democrats, accusing them of wanting ‘revenge for the Clintons.

Brett Kavanaugh delivered a fighting end to his Senate testimony on Thursday when asked directly if he was innocent of claims he tried to rape Christine Blasey Ford or had any doubts about his integrity

The declaration capped an angry and emotional afternoon in which Kavanaugh fought for the empty seat on the Supreme Court and Ford meticulously went through details of the night she said changed her life 

The declaration capped an angry and emotional afternoon in which Kavanaugh fought for the empty seat on the Supreme Court and Ford meticulously went through details of the night she said changed her life 

Kavanaugh, 53, turned from anger to tears as he described his daughter Liza, 10, saying his family should pray for Ford, and repeatedly stopped to take deep breaths and sip from glass after glass of water as he mounted the fight of his professional and personal life. 

Kavanaugh finally ended his testimony at 6.45pm. Minutes later he got at least part of what he needed to survive: a tweet of approval from the president, who had spent the day glued first to Ford and then to the judge.

Trump’s tweet could have been ripped from Kavanaugh’s own testimony, in which he had called his nomination a ‘circus’ and a ‘national disgrace’ and accused Democrats of plotting to destroy not just his name but his family too.

‘This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election,’ Kavanaugh claimed.

‘Fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.’

But that testimony was challenged head on by Democratic senator Cory Booker, who later asked if Kavanaugh believed Ford was a political operative, and if he wished she had ‘never come forward’.

‘Are you saying Dr Ford’s efforts to come forward to prepare for the difficult testimony she gave today, have all been part of an orchestrated hit? Are you calling her a political operative?’ the senator asked.

‘All allegations should be taken seriously…I don’t know her, but I also said we [my family and I] have no ill will towards her,’ Kavanaugh said. 

Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, hold hands as they leave a holding room after the hearing on Thursday 

Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, hold hands as they leave a holding room after the hearing on Thursday 

Kavanaugh spent much of the hearing denouncing the Democratic party and calling the hearing a 'circus' that he claimed was revenge for the Clintons

Kavanaugh spent much of the hearing denouncing the Democratic party and calling the hearing a ‘circus’ that he claimed was revenge for the Clintons

‘Do you think that people who believe Dr Ford are legitimizing despicable things?’ Booker continued. ‘Do you think we’re somehow engaging in something that’s despicable?’ 

‘She is not a political pawn, she is not part of the Clinton’s effort to get some kind of revenge,’ the senator went on in a rousing defense of Ford. 

‘She’s a woman who came here with corroborating evidence to tell her truth.’  

Kavanaugh choked up and took deep, heaving breaths in his opening statement as he talked about what his youngest daughter told his wife the night before he testified. 

‘Little Liza all of 10 years of old, said to Ashley, we should pray for the woman. That’s a lot of wisdom from a 10 year old,’ he said.

Then he had to pause, choke back tears and regain his composure.

‘We mean no ill will,’ he added.

Kavanaugh was emotional again when talking about his yearbook. ‘For one thing, our yearbook was a disaster,’ he said, in reference to the reports of what was written in it.

‘Some people wanted the yearbook to be a combination of Animal House, Caddyshack, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which were all recent movies at that time,’ he noted, adding ‘many of us went along with the yearbook to the point of absurdity.’

He added: ‘This past week my friends and I have cringed when we talked about it to each other.’

He specifically referenced – without mentioning her name – Renate Schroeder, who The New York Times reported on earlier this week, noting a ‘Renate’ reference appeared 14 times in Kavanaugh’s yearbook with Kavanaugh listed as a ‘Renate Alumni.’ 

Kavanaugh gave an emotional and furious testimony in defense of his name when he took his place before the Senate on Thursday

Brett Kavanaugh arrived for a make-or-break evidence session hand in hand with his wife Ashley on Thursday

Christine Blasey Ford looked emotional during a tense Senate hearing on Thursday where she testified that Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when she was 15

‘It was not related to sex,’ he said bluntly.

‘I’m so sorry for her for that yearbook reference,’ he said and choked up again as he added: ‘She was and is a great person.’

Sen Richard Blumenthal brought up the yearbook statement again later in the hearing, referencing Schroeder’s own quote to the Times that the ‘Alumni’ joke was ‘horrible, hurtful, and simply untrue’. 

‘Renate Alumni clearly implied some boast of sexual conquest,’ Blumenthal added.   

Kavanaugh became agitated at the senator’s suggestion, instead trying to claim it was Blumenthal who was doing ‘great harm’ to Schroeder by bringing up her own direct quote regarding her feelings over the statement. 

‘You’re just dragging her through the mud,’ Kavanaugh said. 

What was not addressed was the fact that Kavanaugh’s lawyer claimed he shared a kiss with Schroeder after an event, to which she specifically told the New York Times never actually happened.   

During the hearing Kavanaugh also reiterated his claim he made in a Fox News interview on Monday that he was a virgin in high school and for years afterward.

‘This is not a topic I ever imagined would come up in a judicial confirmation hearing,’ he said. ‘I never had sexual intercourse of anything close to it during high school or for many years after that,’ he added.

Kavanaugh also admitted he liked beer, still likes beer but added it doesn’t mean he sexually assaulted anyone.

‘I liked beer. I still like beer. But I never drank beer to the point of blacking out and I never sexually assaulted someone,’ he said.

But he warned: ‘If every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault we are in a new place in this country.’

Whether Kavanaugh had ever blacked out from drinking was a frequent topic of discussion during the hearing, as he continued to claim he was far too focused on his football practice to ever do such a thing on weekdays. 

And yet, later in the hearing, Kavanaugh had to concede to Booker – on the basis of his own calendars – that on July 1 – a weekday – he had ‘brewskis’ with his friends after a football practice.

‘You drank on weekdays, yes or no?’ Booker asked. 

‘Well, yes…on July 1,’ Kavanaugh replied. 

Blumenthal also brought up how Kavanaugh had once described needing to ‘piece things back together’ after ‘falling off the bus on to the front steps of the Law School at 4.45am’ while he was a student at Yale. 

Kavanaugh repeatedly interrupted Blumenthal, shouting ‘I know what happened!’ and then described a night of ‘great camaraderie’ at Fenway Park. 

Questions about Kavanaugh’s alcohol habits became especially contentious when he was asked by Sen Amy Klobuchar if he had ever drank to the point of blacking out, referencing her own father’s struggle with alcoholism. 

‘I don’t know. Have you?’ he shot back in an incredible moment that was criticized by many on social media. 

After a brief recess, Kavanaugh apologized to Klobuchar and said: ‘I’m sorry I did that. This is a tough process.’  

The Judiciary Committee’s leading Democrat, Dianne Feinstein, grilled Kavanaugh about the FBI’s lack of involvement in investigating Ford’s allegation.

‘I’ll do whatever the committee wants,’ Kavanaugh responded. ‘I wanted a hearing the day after the allegation came up!’

‘Whatever the committee decides, I’m all-in immediately,’ he said.

Kavanaugh also said he did not watch Ford’s testimony as he was busy preparing for his own but added he had planned to watch it.  

Brett Kavanaugh nearly broke down in tears as he described the effect of the allegations against him on his family and his daughters on Thursday

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday 

Both Kavanaugh's mother Martha and wife Ashley, looked upset as they listened to his testimony

Both Kavanaugh’s mother Martha, left, and wife Ashley, right, looked upset as they listened to his testimony

Martha Kavanaugh began crying during the hearing as she sat beside her husband and Kavanaugh's father Edward 

Martha Kavanaugh began crying during the hearing as she sat beside her husband and Kavanaugh’s father Edward 

Kavanaugh's parents also appeared stoic as they heard their son testify about the sexual assault allegations on Thursday 

Kavanaugh’s parents also appeared stoic as they heard their son testify about the sexual assault allegations on Thursday 

Christine Blasey Ford reacts to Kavanaugh's testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., September 27

Christine Blasey Ford reacts to Kavanaugh’s testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., September 27

Kavanaugh also lectured Feinstein about the FBI’s typical procedures related to judicial nominations.

‘The FBI doesn’t reach a conclusion,’ he said, describing the standard interview reports the Bureau produces. ‘They would just give you a couple of 302s telling you what we said.’

Feinstein sot back that the FBI isn’t doing those interviews, ‘and isn’t giving us any facts.’

‘You’re interviewing me! You’re interviewing me, senator!’ he fired back. ‘You’re doing it!’

Democrat Dick Durbin demanded to know why Kavanaugh wasn’t demanding an FBI investigation to prove his innocence.

‘Turn to Don McGahn and tell him it’s time to get this done,’ Durbin told him, referring to President Trump’s White House counsel in the front row.

He then asked McGahn himself to suspend Kavanaugh’s nomination until the FBI can carry out its own probe.

‘If there is no truth to her charges,’ Durbin said, referring to Ford, ‘the FBI investigation will show that. Are you afraid that they won’t?’

Chairman Grassley interjected that Durbin didn’t need Kavanaugh’s permission to spring the FBI into action. ‘If you want an FBI report, you can ask for it yourself!’ he barked.

Kavanaugh said Durbin was asking ‘a phony question because the FBI doesn’t reach conclusions.

But Kavanaugh said he would ‘welcome whatever the committee wants to do because I’m telling the truth.’

‘I’m innocent! I’m innocent of this charge!’ he shouted.

Sen Kamala Harris likewise asked Kavanaugh why he had not called on the White House to ask for the FBI to investigated. 

‘All three of the women who have made sworn allegations against you have asked for an independent FBI investigation, you’ve been asked by four different members at least eight times and on national television whether you would call on the White House to authorize the FBI investigation,’ she said. 

‘Are you willing to ask the White House to authorize an investigation into the claims that have been made against you?’ 

‘I will do what the committee wants,’ Kavanaugh said. 

‘I heard you say that,’ Harris continued, not backing down. ‘Are you willing to ask the White House to conduct an investigation by the FBI to get whatever you believe is the bottom of the allegations that have been levied against you.’ 

When Kavanaugh once again tried to pivot from the question, Harris shot back: ‘I don’t want to debate with you’. 

‘Are you willing to ask the White House to conduct such an investigation?’ she asks yet again. 

When Kavanaugh refuses yet again to directly answer the question, Harris replies: ‘I’m taking that as a no and we can move on’.   

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont attacked Kavanaugh over Mark Judge’s fictionalized writing about his alcoholic youth.

An indignant Kavanaugh shot back that the senator was ‘mocking’ a man’s addiction. 

Kavanaugh was visibly angry when he started talking Thursday, demanding senators to think about the facts and his willingness to testify in the wake of the allegations against him as they weigh whether or not to confirm him to the Supreme Court.

Practically shouting into the microphone, Kavanaugh on Thursday blasted the Senate Judiciary Committee for waiting 10 days to let him give his side of the story, noting he denied the allegations as soon as they were made public.

Trump tweeted his support for Kavanaugh just minutes after the eight-hour hearing came to an end on Thursday night 

Trump tweeted his support for Kavanaugh just minutes after the eight-hour hearing came to an end on Thursday night 

‘My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations. The ten-day delay has been harmful to me and my family, to the supreme court and to the country,’ he said.

‘The day after the allegation appeared, I told this committee that I wanted a hearing as soon as possible to clear my name,’ he noted. ‘I demanded a hearing for the very next day.’

He slammed the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for failing in their role in the confirmation process.

‘This confirmation process has become a national disgrace. The constitution gives the Senate an important role in the confirmation process. But you have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy,’ he said.

He also charged Democrats with a political plot to destroy him with the unwitting help of Ford. And, he alleged, it was their way of attacking President Donald Trump and getting revenge for what happened to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

‘This whole two week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit,’ he said, going on to charge it was ‘fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. This is a circus,’ he charged.

‘Shortly after I was nominated, the Democratic senate leader said he would oppose me with everything he’s got. A Democratic senator on this committee publicly referred to me as evil. Evil. Think about that word,’ he said.

Democrat Dick Durbin (pictured with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif) demanded to know why Kavanaugh wasn't demanding an FBI investigation to prove his innocence

Democrat Dick Durbin (pictured with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif) demanded to know why Kavanaugh wasn’t demanding an FBI investigation to prove his innocence

Senator Lindsey Graham (right) went on a furious rant during the hearing, where he told Kavanaugh he didn't believe his denials and that he hoped he never got a seat. Pictured, L-R: Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, and Lindsey Graham look at a phone as Brett Kavanaugh testifies about sexual assault 

Senator Lindsey Graham (right) went on a furious rant during the hearing, where he told Kavanaugh he didn’t believe his denials and that he hoped he never got a seat. Pictured, L-R: Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, and Lindsey Graham look at a phone as Brett Kavanaugh testifies about sexual assault 

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) reacts during testimony from Christine Blasey Ford at a Judiciary Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) reacts during testimony from Christine Blasey Ford at a Judiciary Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27

Read Brett Kavanaugh’s full opening statement

Brett Kavanaugh electrified the Senate Judiciary Committee as he delivered his 45-minute, 5,202 word statement. This is his full statement.

Mr Chairman, Ranking Member Feinstein, members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to make my statement. I wrote it myself yesterday afternoon and evening. No one has seen a draft of it except for one of my former law clerks. This is my statement.  

Less than two weeks ago Dr Ford publicly accused me of committing wrongdoing at an event more than 36 years ago when we were both in high school. I denied the allegation immediately, categorically and unequivocally. 

All four people allegedly at the event, including Dr Ford’s long-time friend Ms Kaiser, have said they recall no such event. Her long-time friend, Ms Kaiser, said under penalty of felony that she does not know me and does not believe she ever saw me at a party ever. 

Here is the quote from Ms Kaiser’s attorney’s letter: ‘Simply put, Ms Kaiser does not know Mr Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party where he was present, with or without Ms Ford.’ Think about that fact.

The day after the allegation appeared, I told this committee that I wanted a hearing as soon as possible to clear my name. I demanded a hearing for the very next day. 

Unfortunately, it took the committee ten days to get to this hearing. In those ten long days, as was predictable and as I predicted, my family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations. 

The ten-day delay has been harmful to me and my family, to the Supreme Court and to the country. 

When this allegation first arose, I welcomed any kind of investigation — Senate, FBI or otherwise. 

Emotional: At times angry, and at others tearful, Brett Kavanaugh addressed senators for 45 minutes as he delivered his statement

Emotional: At times angry, and at others tearful, Brett Kavanaugh addressed senators for 45 minutes as he delivered his statement

The committee now has conducted a thorough investigation and I’ve cooperated fully. 

I know that any kind of investigation, senate, FBI, Montgomery County police, whatever, will clear me.

Listen to the people I know. Listen to the people who have known me my whole life. Listen to the people I’ve grown up with and worked with and played with and coached with and dated and taught and gone to games with and had beers with. 

Listen to the witnesses who allegedly were at this event 36 years ago. Listen to miss Kaiser. She does not know me. I was not at the party described by Dr Ford. This confirmation process has become a national disgrace. 

The constitution gives the Senate an important role in the confirmation process. But you have replaced ‘advice and consent’ with ‘search and destroy.’

Since my nomination in July, there has been a frenzy on the left to come up with something, anything, to block my confirmation. 

Shortly after I was nominated the Democratic Senate Leader said he would ‘oppose me with everything he’s got.’ 

A Democratic senator on this committee publicly referred to me as ‘evil.’ Evil. Think about that word. And said that those who supported me were ‘complicit in evil.’ 

Another Democratic senator on this committee said, ‘Judge Kavanaugh is your worst nightmare.’ 

A former head of the Democratic National Committee said ‘Judge Kavanaugh will threaten the lives of millions of Americans for decades to come.’ 

I understand the passions of the moment, but I would say to those senators: your words have meaning. 

Millions of Americans listened carefully to you. Given comments like those, is it any surprise that people have been willing to do anything to make any physical threat against my family, to send any violent e-mail to my wife, to make any kind of allegation against me and against my friends, to blow me up and take me down. You sowed the wind for decades to come. 

I fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwind. The behavior of several of the Democratic members this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an embarrassment. 

At least it was just a good old-fashioned attempt at Borking. Those efforts didn’t work. When I did at least okay enough at the hearings that it looked like I might actually get confirmed, a new tactic was needed.

Some of you were lying in wait and had it ready. This first allegation was held in secret for weeks by a Democratic member of this committee and by staff. 

It would be needed only if you couldn’t take me out on the merits. When it was needed, this allegation was unleashed and publicly deployed over Dr Ford’s wishes. 

And then, and then, as no doubt was expected, if not planned, came a long series of false, last-minute smears designed to scare me and drive me out of the process before any hearing occurred. 

Crazy stuff: gangs, illegitimate children, fights on boats in Rhode Island. All nonsense reported breathlessly and often uncritically by the media. 

 This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups

This has destroyed my family and my good name, a good name built up through decades of very hard work and public service at the highest levels of the American government. 

This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. 

This is a circus. The consequences will extend long past my nomination. The consequences will be with us for decades. 

This grotesque and coordinated character assassination will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country.

And as we all know, in the United States political system of the early 2000s, what goes around comes around. 

I am an optimistic guy. I always trying to on the sunrise side of the mountain, to be optimistic about the day that is coming. But today I have to say that I fear for the future. 

Last time I was here, I told this committee that a federal judge must be independent, not swayed by public or political pressure. 

I said I was such a judge and I am. I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. You’ve tried hard. You’ve given it your all. 

No one can question your effort, but your coordinated and well-funded effort to destroy my good name and destroy my family will not drive me out. 

The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. You may defeat me in the final vote, but you’ll never get me to quit. 

Never.I’m here today to tell the truth. I’ve never sexual assaulted anyone, not in high school, not in college, not ever. Sexual assault is horrific. 

One of my closest friends to this day is a woman who was sexually abused and who in the 1990s, when we were in our 30s, confided in me about the abuse and sought my advice.

I was one of the only people she consulted. Allegations of sexual assault must always be taken seriously, always. Those who make allegations always deserve to be heard. 

At the same time, the person who is the subject of the allegations also deserves to be heard. Due process is a foundation of the American rule of law. Due process means listening to both sides.

As I told you at my hearing three weeks ago, I’m the only child of Martha and Ed Kavanaugh. They are here today. 

When I was 10, my mom went to law school and as a lawyer she worked hard and overcame barriers, including the workplace sexual harassment that so many women faced at the time and still face today. 

She became a trailblazer, one of Maryland’s earliest women prosecutors and trial judges. 

Tearful: Brett Kavanaugh's emotions went from anger to sorrow as he spoke for 45 minutes

Tearful: Brett Kavanaugh’s emotions went from anger to sorrow as he spoke for 45 minutes

She and my dad taught me the importance equality and respect for all people and she inspired me to be a lawyer and a judge. 

Last time I was here I told you that when my mom was a prosecutor and I was in high school, she used to practice her closing arguments at the dining room table on my dad and me.

As I told you, her trademark line was: ‘Use your common sense, what rings true, what rings false?’ 

Her trademark line is a good reminder as we sit here today, some 36 years after the alleged event occurred, when there is no corroboration and indeed it is refuted by the people allegedly there. 

After I have been in the public arena for 26 years without even a hint, a whiff of an allegation like this and when my nomination to the supreme court was just about to be voted on at a time when I’m called evil by a Democratic member of this committee, while Democratic opponents of my nomination say people will die if I am confirmed. 

This onslaught of last-minute allegations does not ring true. I’m not questioning that Dr Ford may have been sexual assaulted by some person in some place at some time, but I have never done this to her or to anyone.

That’s not who I am. It is not who I was. I am innocent of this charge. 

I intend no ill will to Dr Ford and her family. The other night Ashley and my daughter Liza said their prayers and little Liza all of ten years old said to Ashley, we should pray for the woman. That’s a lot of wisdom from a 10-year-old. We mean no ill will. 

‘I have been in the public arena and under extreme public scrutiny for decades.’

First let’s start with my career. For the last 26 years, since 1992, I’ve served in many high-profile and sensitive government positions, for which the FBI has investigated my background six separate times. 

Six separate FBI background investigations over 26 years. All of them after the event alleged here. I have been in the public arena and under extreme public scrutiny for decades. 

In 1992, I worked for the Office of Solicitor General in the Department of Justice. In 1993 I clerked on the Supreme Court for Justice Anthony Kennedy. I spent four years at the independent counsel’s office during the 1990s. 

That office was the subject of enormous scrutiny from the media and the public. 

During 1998, the year of the impeachment of president Clinton, our office generally, and I personally were in the middle of an intense national media and political spotlight. 

I and other leading members of Ken Starr’s office were opposition research from head to toe from birth through the present day. 

Recall the people who were exposed that year of 1997 as having engaged in some sexual wrongdoings or indiscretion in the past. 

One person on the left even paid a million dollars for people to report evidence of sexual wrongdoing and it worked. Exposed some prominent people. Nothing about me.

From 2001 to 2006 I worked for president George W. Bush in the White House. As staff secretary I was by president Bush’s side for three years and was entrusted with the nation’s most sensitive secrets. 

I traveled on Air Force One all over the country and the world with President Bush. I went everywhere with him, from Texas to Pakistan, from Alaska to Australia, from Buckingham Palace to the Vatican. 

Three years in the West Wing, five and a half years in the White House. I was then nominated to be a judge on the D.C. Circuit. I was thoroughly vetted by the white house, the FBI, the American Bar Association and this committee. 

I sat before this committee for two thorough confirmation hearings in 2004 and 2006. 

For the past 12 years leading up to my nomination for this job, I’ve served in a very public arena as a federal judge on what is often referred to as the second most important court in the country. 

I’ve handled some of the most sensitive cases affecting the lives and liberties of the American people. I have been a good judge.

For this nomination, another FBI background investigation, another American Bar Association investigation, 31 hours of hearings, 65 senator meetings, 1,200 written questions, more than all previous Supreme Court nominees combined. 

Throughout that entire time, throughout my 53 years and seven months on this Earth, until last week no one ever accused me of any kind of sexual misconduct. No one, ever. 

A lifetime, a lifetime of public service and a lifetime of high-profile public service, at the highest levels of American government and never a hint of anything of this kind. And that’s because nothing of this kind ever happened.

Dr Ford’s allegation is not merely uncorroborated, it is refuted by the very people she says were there, including by a long-time friend of hers. Refuted. 

Second, let’s turn to specifics. I categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation against me by Dr Ford. 

I never had any sexual or physical encounter of any kind with Dr Ford. I never attended a gathering like the one Dr Ford describes in her allegations. 

I never sexual assaulted Dr Ford or anyone. Again, I am not questioning that Dr Ford may have been sexual assaulted by some person in some place at some time, but I have never done that to her or to anyone.

Dr Ford’s allegation stems from a party that she alleges occurred during the summer of 1982, 36 years ago. 

I was 17 years old between my junior and senior years of high school at Georgetown Prep, a rigorous, all-boys Catholic Jesuit High School in Rockville, Maryland. 

When my friends and I spent time together at parties on weekends, it was usually with friends from nearby Catholic all-girl high schools, Stone Ridge, Holy Child, Visitation, Immaculata, Holy Cross. Dr Ford did not attend one of those schools. 

She attended an independent private school named Holton-Arms and she was a year behind me. 

She and I did not travel in the same social circles. It is possible that we met at some point at some events, although I do not recall that. 

To repeat, all of the people identified by Dr Ford as being present at the party have said they do not remember any such party ever happening. 

Importantly her friend, Ms Kaiser, has not only denied knowledge of the party, Ms Kaiser said under penalty of felony she does not know me, does not recall ever being at a party with me ever. 

And my two male friends who were allegedly there, who knew me well, have told this committee under penalty of felony that they do not recall any such party and that I never did or would do anything like this. 

Dr Ford’s allegation is not merely uncorroborated, it is refuted by the very people she says were there, including by a long-time friend of hers. Refuted.

She does not say how she got to the house in question or how she got home or whose house it was 

Third, Dr Ford has said that this event occurred at a house near Columbia Country Club, which is at the corner of Connecticut Avenue and the East-West Highway in Chevy Chase, Maryland,

In her letter she said there were four other people at the house, but none of those people nor I lived near Columbia Country Club. That summer, Dr Ford was 15 and did not drive yet. 

She did not live near Columbia Country Club. She says confidently she had one beer at the party but she does not say how she got to the house in question or how she got home or whose house it was.

That weekend before a brutal football training camp schedule was no time for parties 

Fourth, I’ve submitted to this committee detailed calendars recording my activities in the summer of 1982. 

Why did I keep calendars? My dad started keeping detailed calendars of his life in 1978. He did so as both a calendar and a diary. He was a very organized guy to put it mildly. 

Christmastime, we sit around and he would regale us with old stories, old milestones, old weddings, old events from his calendars. In 9th grade, in 9th grade in 1980, I started keeping calendars of my own, for me also it’s both a calendar and a diary. 

I’ve kept such calendars and diaries for the last 38 years. Mine are not as good as my dad’s in some years, and when I was a kid, the calendars are about what you would expect from a kid, some goofy parts, some embarrassing parts, but I did have the summer of 1982 documented pretty well.

The event described by Dr Ford presumably happened on a weekend because I believe everyone worked and had jobs in the Summers. 

And in any event, a drunken early evening event of the kind she describes presumably happened on a weekend. If it was a weekend, my calendars show that I was out of town almost every weekend night before football training camp started in late August. 

The only weekend nights that I was in D.C. were Friday, June 4, when I was with my dad at a pro golf tournament. 

 If the party described by Dr Ford happened in the summer of 1982 on a weekend night, my calendar shows all but definitively that I was not there

And had my high school achievement test at 8:30 the next morning. I also was in D.C. on Saturday night, August 7th, but I was at a small gathering at Becky’s house in Rockville with Matt, Denise, Lori and Jenny. 

Their names are all listed on my calendar. I won’t use their last names here. And then on the weekend of August 20 to 22nd, I was staying at the Garrett’s with Pat and Chris as we did final preparations for football training camp that began on Sunday the 22nd. 

As the calendars confirm, that weekend before a brutal football training camp schedule was no time for parties. 

So let me emphasize this point. If the party described by Dr Ford happened in the summer of 1982 on a weekend night, my calendar shows all but definitively that I was not there. 

During the weekdays in the summer of 1982, as you can see, I was out of town for two weeks of the summer for a trip to the beach with friends and at the legendary five-star basketball camp in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. 

When I was in town, I spent much of my time working, working out, lifting weights, playing basketball or hanging out and having some beers with friends as we talked about life and football and school and girls.

Some have noticed that I didn’t have church on Sundays on my calendars. I also didn’t list brushing my teeth, and for me, going to church on Sundays was like brushing my teeth, automatic. Still is.

In the summer of 1981, I had worked construction. In the summer of 1982 my job was cutting lawns. I had my own business of sorts. You see some specifics about the lawn-cutting listed on the August calendar page when I had to time the last lawn cuttings of the summer of various lawns before football training camp. 

I played in a lot of summer league basketball games for the Georgetown Prep team at night at Blair High School in Silver Spring. 

Many nights I worked out with other guys at Tobin’s house. He was the great quarterback on our football team, and his dad ran workouts. Or lifted weight at Georgetown prep in preparation for the football season. 

I attended and watched many sporting events, as is my habit to this day. The calendar shows a few weekday gatherings at friends’ houses after a workout or just to meet up and have a beer, but none of those gatherings include the group of people Dr Ford has identified.

And as my calendars show, I was very precise about listing who was there, very precise. Keep in mind my calendars also were diaries of sorts, forward-looking and backward-looking, just like my dad’s. 

You can see, for example, that I crossed out missed workouts and the cancelled doctor’s appointments and that I listed the precise people who had shown up for certain events. The calendars are obviously not dispositive on their own, but they are another piece of evidence in the mix for you to consider.

I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out, and I never sexually assaulted anyone 

Fifth, Dr Ford’s allegation is radically inconsistent with my record and my character from my youth to the present day. 

As students at an all-boys Catholic Jesuit school, many of us became friends and remain friends to this day with students at local Catholic all-girls schools. 

One feature of my life that has remained true to the present day is that I’ve always had a lot of close female friends. I’m not talking about girlfriends. I’m talking about friends who are women. That started in high school. 

Maybe it was because I’m an only child and had no sisters. But anyway, we had no social media or text or e-mail and we talked on the phone.

I remember talking almost every night, it seemed, to my friends, Amy or Julie or Kristen or Karen or Suzanne or Maura or Megan or Nicky. The list goes on. 

Friends for a lifetime built on a foundation of talking through school and life starting at age 14. Several of those great women are in the seats right behind me today.

My friends and I sometimes got together and had parties on weekends. The drinking age was 18 in Maryland for most of my time in high school and was 18 in D.C. for all of my time in high school. I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. 

Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer. 

 If every American who drinks beer or every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault, it will be an ugly new place in this country

But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out, and I never sexually assaulted anyone. There is a bright line between drinking beer, which I gladly do and which I fully embrace, and sexually assaulting someone, which is a violent crime. 

If every American who drinks beer or every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault, it will be an ugly new place in this country. I never committed sexual assault.

As high school students, we sometimes did goofy or stupid things. I doubt we’re alone in looking back at high school and cringing at some things. For one thing, our yearbook was a disaster. 

I think some editors and students wanted the year book to be some combination of ‘Animal House’, ‘Caddie Shack’ and ‘Fast times at Ridgemont High,’ which were all movies in that time. Many of us went along with the year books at times to the point of absurdity. This past week my friend and I have cringed when we read about it and talked to each other. 

One thing in particular we were sad about, one of our good – one of our good female friends who we would admire and went to dances with had her name used on the year book page with the term alumnus. 

That yearbook reference was clumsily intended to show attention and that she was one of us. But in this circus, the media has determined the term was related to sex. It was not related to sex. 

She and I never had any sexual interaction at all. So sorry to her for that yearbook reference. This may sound a bit trivial given all that we are here for, but one thing I want to try to make sure, sure of in the future is my friendship with her. She was and is a great person.

Lack of major or rampant sexual activity in high school was a matter of faith and respect and caution

As to sex, this is not a topic I ever imagined would come up at a judicial confirmation hearing. But I want to give a full picture of who I was. I never had sexual intercourse or anything close to it during high school or for many years after that. 

In some crowds I was probably a little outwardly shy about my inexperience. I tried to hide that. At the same time, I was also inwardly proud of it. For me and the girls who I was friends with, that lack of major or rampant sexual activity in high school was a matter of faith and respect and caution.

The committee has a letter from 65 women who knew me in high school. They said that I always treated them with dignity and respect. 

That letter came together in one night 35 years after graduation while a sexual assault allegation was pending against me in a very fraught and public situation where they knew – they knew they’d be vilified if they defended me. 

Think about that. They put themselves on the line for me. Those are some awesome women, and I love all of them. You also have a letter from women who knew me in college. 

Most were varsity athletes. They described that I treated them as friends and equals and supported them in their sports at a time when women’s sports was emerging in the wake of Title IX. I thank all of them for all of their texts and their e-mails and their support. 

One of those women friends from college, a self-described liberal and feminist sent me a text last night that said, ‘deep breaths, you’re a good man, a good man, a good man.’ 

A text yesterday from another one of those good women friends from college that said: ‘Brett be strong, pulling for you from my core.’ 

A third text yesterday from yet another of those women I’m friends with from college said: ‘I’m holding you in the light of God.’ 

As I said in my opening statement the last time I was with you, cherish your friends, look out for your friends, lift up your friends, love your friends. I felt that love more over the last two weeks than I ever have in my life. I thank all my friends. I love all my friends.

Throughout my life I’ve devoted huge efforts to encouraging and promoting the careers of women. 

I will put my record up against anyone’s, male or female. I am proud of the letter from 84 women. 

Eighty-four women who worked with me at the Bush White House from 2001 to 2006 and described me as, quote, a man of the highest integrity. 

Read the op-ed from Sara day from Yarmouth, Maine. She worked in Oval Office operations outside of President Bush’s office. 

Here’s what she recently wrote in centralmaine.com, and today she stands by her comments. 

‘Brett was an advocate for young women like me. He encouraged me to take on more responsibility and to feel confident in my role.

In fact, during the 2004 Republican National Convention, Brett gave me the opportunity to help with the preparation and review of the president’s remarks, something I never – something I never would have had the chance to do if he had not included me. 

And he didn’t just include me in the work, he made sure I was at Madison Square Garden to watch the president’s speech instead of back at the hotel to watch it on TV.’ 

In my time on the bench, no federal judge, not a single one in the country, has sent more women law clerks to clerk on the Supreme Court than I have

As a judge since 2006, I’ve had the privilege of hiring four recent law school graduates to serve as my law clerks each year. The law clerks for federal judges are the best and brightest graduates of American law schools.

They work for one-year terms for judges after law school and then they move on in their careers. For judges, training these young lawyers is an important responsibility. 

The clerks will become the next generation of American lawyers and leaders, judges and senators. 

Just after I took the bench in 2006, there was a major New York Times story about the low numbers of women law clerks at the Supreme Court and federal appeals courts.

I took notice and I took action. A majority of my 48 law clerks over the last 12 years have been women. 

In a letter to this committee, my women law clerks said I was one of the strongest advocates in the federal judiciary for women lawyers, and they wrote that the legal profession is fairer and more equal because of me.

In my time on the bench, no federal judge, not a single one in the country, has sent more women law clerks to clerk on the Supreme Court than I have. 

Before this allegation arose two weeks ago, I was required to start making certain administrative preparations for my possible transfer to the Supreme Court, just in case I was confirmed.

As part of that I had to, in essence, contingently hire a first group of four law clerks who could be available to clerk at the Supreme Court for me on a moment’s notice. I did so and contingently hired four law clerks. All four are women.

If confirmed, I’ll be the first justice in the history of the Supreme Court to have a group of all women law clerks. That is who I am. That is who I was. Over the past 12 years I’ve taught constitutional law to hundreds of students, primarily at Harvard Law School. 

I was hired by then-Dean and now Justice Elana Kagan. One of my former women students, a Democrat, testified to this committee that I was an even-handed professor who treats people fairly and with respect. 

In a letter to this committee, my former students, male and female alike, wrote that I displayed a character that impressed us all. I love teaching law, but thanks to what some of you on this side of the committee have unleashed, I may never be able to teach again. 

 I am deeply grateful to President Trump for nominating me. He was so gracious to my family and me on the July night he announced my nomination at the White House. I thank him for his steadfast support

For the past seven years, I’ve coached my two daughters’ basketball teams. You saw many of those girls when they came to my hearing for a couple of hours. 

You have a letter from the parents of the girls I coached that describe my dedication, commitment and character. 

I coach because I know that a girls’ confidence on the basketball court translates into confidence in other aspects of life. 

I love coaching more than anything I’ve ever done in my whole life, but thanks to what some of you on this side of the committee have unleashed, I may never be able to coach again. 

I’ve been a judge for 12 years. I have a long record of service to America and to the Constitution. I revere the Constitution.

I am deeply grateful to President Trump for nominating me. He was so gracious to my family and me on the July night he announced my nomination at the White House. I thank him for his steadfast support. 

When I accepted the president’s nomination, Ashley and I knew this process would be challenging. 

We never expected that it would devolve into this. Explaining this to our daughters has been about the worst experience of our lives.

Ashley has been a rock. I thank God every day for Ashley and my family. We live in a country devoted to due process and the rule of law. 

That means taking allegations seriously, but if the mere allegation, the mere assertion of an allegation, a refuted allegation from 36 years ago is enough to destroy a person’s life and career, we will have abandoned the basic principles of fairness and due process that define our legal system and our country. 

I ask you to judge me by the standard that you would want applied to your father, your husband, your brother or your son. My family and I intend no ill will towards Dr Ford or her family. 

But I swear today under oath, before the Senate and the nation, and before my family and God, I am innocent of this charge.

 

‘This first allegation was held in secret for weeks by a Democratic member of this committee and by staff. It would be needed only if you couldn’t take me out on the merits. When it was needed, this allegation was unleashed and publicly deployed over Dr. Ford’s wishes. And then, and then, as no doubt was expected, if not planned came a long series of false last-minute smears designed to scare me and drive me out of the process before any hearing occurred,’ he said.

Feinsteinn directly hit back at Kavanaugh and multiple Republican senator’s claims she had leaked Ford’s story or held onto her allegations for political gain. 

‘Let me be clear, I did not hide Dr Ford’s allegations,’ the senator said in a fiery defense. ‘I did not leak her story. She asked me to hold it confidential and I did as she asked.’ 

‘She was stalked by the press, she felt she was forced to come forward, and her greatest fear was realized. She’s been harassed, she’s had death threats, and she’s had to flee her home.’ 

Feinsteinn also hit back at claims that her office had not been cooperating with the Republicans on the committee. 

‘While the majority has reached out to several people, they did not notify me or my staff that we were doing this,’ she said. 

‘To argue that we were not participating, but did not tell us what they were up to is disingenuous.’ 

‘I was given information by a woman who was very much afraid, who asked it be confidential, and I held it confidential until she decided she would come forward.’ 

Feinsteinn also denied that her staff had leaked Ford’s letter, even asking them right there in court. 

I’m telling you I did not, I was asked to keep it confidential and I’m criticized for that too,’ she noted. 

Ryan Grim, the bureau chief at The Intercept, later confirmed via tweet that it was not Feinstein’s staff who leaked the letter to the publication.   

Kavanaugh vowed to stay in the confirmation process no matter what during the hearing. 

‘You may defeat me in the final vote but you’ll never get me to quit – not ever,’ he said. ‘I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. You have tried hard. You given it your all. No one can question your effort.’

Kavanaugh, who has been accused by three women of sexual assault, also vehemently denied every committing sexual assault on anyone.

‘I’m here today to tell the truth. I have never sexually assaulted anyone – not ever,’ he said. ‘Not in high school, not in college, not ever.’

Kavanaugh walked into the hearing room stone-faced, holding his wife Ashley’s hand after Ford finished nearly three hours of testimony.

‘I have never done this to her, not to anyone,’ he noted. 

‘I’m not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in someplace at some time. But I have never done this to her or to anyone. That’s not who I am, it is not who I was. I am innocent of this charge. I intend no ill will to Dr. Ford and her family.’

Kavanaugh passionately laid out his life in public service – from his time in the Bush White House to his work on the federal bench – noting there had never been an allegation against him in past confirmation hearings for the federal bench nor during an background checks.

‘A lifetime of public service and a lifetime of high profile public service at the highest levels of American government. Never a hint of anything of this kind. And that’s because nothing of this kind ever happened,’ he said.

He laid out his argument in a lawyerly fashion, refuting one-by-one the allegations Ford made when she claimed he pinned her to a bed at a teenage party in the 1980s, groped her and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.

‘I categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation against me by Dr Ford. I never had any sexual or physical encounter of any kind with Dr Ford. I never attended a gathering like the one that Dr Ford describes in her allegation. I’ve never sexually assaulted Dr Ford or anyone. Again, I’m not questioning that Dr Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person, in some place, at some time, but I have never done that to her or to anyone,’ he said.

He also claimed he may have never met Ford during high school.

‘It’s possible we met at some point at some events, although I do not recall that. To repeat, all of the people identified by Dr Ford as being present at the party have said they do not remember anything such party ever happening,’ he noted.

He then talked about how he supports women throughout his professional career, emphasizing how many women he has hired over the years.

‘A majority of my 48 law clerks over the last 12 years have been women,’ he noted. ‘In my time on the bench, no federal judge, not a single one in the country has sent more women law clerks to clerk on the Supreme Court than I have.’

It was a point later brought back up by Harris, who asked Kavanaugh: ‘Do you agree that it is possible for men to both be friends with some women and treat other women badly?’   

Kavanaugh ended his opening statement with dramatic words: ‘I swear today under oath before the Senate and the nation, before my family and god I am innocent of this charge.’

He made clear from the beginning these were his thoughts and words.

L-R: Kavanaugh's mother Martha Kavanaugh, family friend Laura Cox Kaplan, and wife Ashley Kavanaugh, listen as Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary committee regarding sexual assault allegations

L-R: Kavanaugh’s mother Martha Kavanaugh, family friend Laura Cox Kaplan, and wife Ashley Kavanaugh, listen as Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary committee regarding sexual assault allegations

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh admitted during testimony he liked beer, still likes beer but added it doesn't mean he sexually assaulted anyone

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh admitted during testimony he liked beer, still likes beer but added it doesn’t mean he sexually assaulted anyone

Donald F. McGahn, White House Council, watches as Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh testifies about sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill

Donald F. McGahn, White House Council, watches as Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh testifies about sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill

‘I wrote this statement myself. No one has seen a draft except for one of my law clerks. This is my statement,’ a defiant Kavanaugh said. 

The nominee had arrived for the make-or-break evidence session hand in hand with his wife Ashley – after hours of testimony from Christine Ford, the woman who says he tried to rape her when she was 15.

Neither smiled as they walked into the Senate committee room for his testimony, in which he will have to convince Republican senators who hold his Supreme Court nomination in their hands that he is worth voting for. 

‘I’m here today to tell the truth. I have never sexually assaulted anyone – not ever,’ he said.

Kavanaugh walked into the hearing room stone-faced, holding his wife Ashley’s hand after Ford finished nearly three hours of testimony.

‘I have never done this to her, not to anyone,’ he noted. 

He made clear from the beginning these were his thoughts and words.

‘I wrote this statement myself. No one has seen a draft except for one of my law clerks. This is my statement,’ a defiant Kavanaugh said.

The nominee had arrived for the make-or-break evidence session hand in hand with his wife Ashley – after hours of testimony from Christine Ford, the woman who says he tried to rape her when she was 15.

Neither smiled as they walked into the Senate committee room for his testimony, in which he will have to convince Republican senators who hold his Supreme Court nomination in their hands that he is worth voting for.

The arrival was after Ford was called ‘credible’ and thanked for her testimony by the sex crimes prosecutor brought in to avoid the appearance of a group of older men questioning a woman who says she is a sex crime victim.

In emotional testimony, Ford, 51, came close to tears as she said repeatedly that she knew Kavanaugh was the man who tried to rape her.

‘No and I would like to reiterate again that I was trying to get the information to you while there looked to be a list of other credible qualified candidates,’ she told senators when asked to clarify if she came forward for political reasons.

Ford ended almost three hours of testimony with even Republican senators saying her testimony was credible. 

‘I found no reason to find her not credible,’ GOP Senator John Cornyn said.

Her credible testimony and shaking questioning from the lawyer hired by Republicans to do their questioning for them left Kavanaugh with a tough task ahead of him.

‘His reputation is on the line, his career as well,’ Cornyn said of Kavanaugh.   

The Supreme Court nominee arrived amid a heavy police presence to the court

The Supreme Court nominee arrived amid a heavy police presence to the court

Brett Kavanaugh says that Leland Ingham Keyser (pictured) made a sworn statement that she was not at the party 

Brett Kavanaugh says that Leland Ingham Keyser (pictured) made a sworn statement that she was not at the party 

Ford, 51, said earlier in her testimony she wanted to get information about her allegation to the White House before President Donald Trump formally nominated Kavanaugh, 53, to the high court but she was unsure how.

She said she contacted her local member of Congress – Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo – and The Washington Post’s tip line.

Ford, a research psychologist and professor at Palo Alto University, said Eshoo’s office contacted her on the day Trump nominated Kavanaugh, which was July 9th.

Ford, who was questioned personally by the 10 Democratic senators on the panel while all 11 Republican senators deferred their time to sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, addressed questions of her credibility, her belief that it was Kavanaugh who was behind the attack, and her motive in coming forward so many years after the incident in question took place.  

Ford said it was ‘absolutely not’ possible she mistook another teenage attacker for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, saying she was ‘100 percent’ certain he was the man she says sexually assaulted her in 1982 when she was 15.

Dismissing claims of a ‘Kavanaugh lookalike,’ she told Senators he was certainly her attacker at age 17 – ‘very much so.’

And when asked her degree of certainty it was Kavanaugh, Ford leaned down into the microphone and said: ‘100 percent.’

Committee Republicans have suggested that someone else, not Kavanaugh, groped and tried to disrobe Ford 36 years ago, and they have interviewed at least two men who believe it might have been them. 

But Ford dismissed that idea.

The two hours of questioning began with sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell acknowledging that Ford was ‘terrified.’

Throughout her questioning, Ford revealed how she came to her decision to go public and the how she left her grandmother’s funeral to take a polygraph test on the incident. 

‘I had left my grandmother’s funeral at Fort Lincoln Cemetery that day and was on a tight schedule to get a plane to Manchester, New Hampshire, so [Jeremiah Hanafin, the polygraph administrator] was willing to come to me, which was appreciated,’ she said.

Ford looked frustrated and appeared to be struggling to keep her composure as she explained it was 'absolutely not' possible she mistook another teenage attacker for Kavanaugh 

Ford looked frustrated and appeared to be struggling to keep her composure as she explained it was ‘absolutely not’ possible she mistook another teenage attacker for Kavanaugh 

Questioning began with sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell (pictured) acknowledging that Ford was 'terrified'

Questioning began with sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell (pictured) acknowledging that Ford was ‘terrified’

‘So he administered a polygraph on the day that you attended your grandmother’s funeral?,’ Mitchell.

‘Correct,’ Ford replied. ‘It might have been the next day. I spent the night in the hotel.’

Ford said her primary memory of taking the test was ‘crying a lot.’  

Asked why she took it, Ford said: ‘I didn’t see any reason not to do it.’

‘I found it extremely stressful,’ she said. ‘Much longer than I anticipated. I told my whole life story, I felt like. I endured it. It was fine.’

Attorneys for Ford handed over the results of the test to the Senate Judiciary Committee and those were results were officially entered into the committee’s record. 

HOW THE CHRISTINE FORD BRETT KAVANAUGH HEARING WORKS

Christine Ford and Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing is a moment in history – and has its own rules.

Christine Ford testifies first, followed by Brett Kavanaugh. They are not expected to be in the same room together at any time.

Each hearing follows this format:

  • Opening remarks from Charles Grassley, the Republican committee chairman
  • Opening remarks from Dianne Feinstein, ranking Democratic member
  • Opening statement from Christine Blasey Ford or Brett Kavanaugh
  • First question from a Republican senator – but the Republicans have hired sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to ask questions on their behalf.
  • The question and answer and follow-up questions last five minutes. Then it is the turn of the first Democratic senator.
  • Each of the 11 Republican and 10 Democratic senators has five minutes to ask, or have asked, questions to Ford and Kavanaugh.
  • At the end of the last question, each witness is excused without a closing statement.

Ford initially said she didn’t know who paid for the test but when Mitchell returned to questioning Ford on who was paying for her legal fees and associated costs, Ford’s attorneys clarified the matter.

‘Let me put an end to this mystery: her lawyers have paid for her polygraph, as is routine,’ Ford attorney Debra Katz said.

And both lawyers are working for free, they revealed.

‘Both her counsel are doing this pro bono and are not being paid and have no expectation of being paid,’ said Ford lawyer Michael Bromwich.

And, in one of the more emotional moments of the morning, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Ford what stuck out to her in her memory.

‘Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter,’ Ford said, her voice breaking up. ‘The laughter, the upraised laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense.’

‘You never forgot that laughter?,’ Leahy said as Ford nodded and one of her lawyers patted her back for reassurance.

‘I was under one of them while they laughed. Two friends having fun together,’ Ford said. 

At several moments throughout her time before the panel of 21 senators, Ford grew emotional, fighting back tears and struggling to keep her composure. 

Ford was almost in tears at one point at another point in the questioning when Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal praised her courage.

Blumenthal quoted from the 2015 book ‘My Story’ from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who sat a few seats down from him on the judiciary panel, in his praise from Ford.

Blumenthal noted Graham wrote that it takes ‘courage from a deep and hidden place for a rape victim or sexually abused child to testify against their assailant.’

Ford fought back tears and Graham could be seen nodding as Blumenthal read from his book. 

Ford’s morning began with her own testimony, where, over deep, shaky breathing, she said Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge had been ‘extremely inebriated’ on the summer 1982 night. 

This image released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, shows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh's calendar, from the Summer of 1982

This image released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, shows Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s calendar, from the Summer of 1982

 

 

Her voice quavered as she described her trauma. 

Ford held back tears as she described the teenage party where she claims Kavanaugh attacked her as his friend Mark Judge watched.

‘I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t remember as much as I would like to,’ she said. ‘But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget. They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult.’ 

‘When I got to the small gathering, people were drinking beer in a small living room on the first floor of the house. I drank one beer that evening. Brett and Mark were visibly drunk. Early in the evening, I went up a narrow set of stairs leading from the living room to a second floor to use the bathroom. When I got to the top of the stairs, I was pushed from behind into a bedroom. I couldn’t see who pushed me.’

‘I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming,’ she recalled.

‘This was what terrified me the most and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.’

She added: ‘Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time.’

Ford said that moment scared her the most, and the memory of the boys’ laughter left the most indelible imprint on her mind.

She also addressed questions about why she did not report the assault at the time.

‘For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details. I did not want to tell my parents that I, at age 15, was in a house without any parents present, drinking beer with boys,’ she said.

‘I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should be able to move on and just pretend that it had never happened,’ Ford noted. 

Ford revealed that she had first mentioned her allegations to her husband during a major renovation of their home in Palo Alto, California (pictured). Ford said that she had wanted two front doors as a result of the anxiety and nervousness she had been left with as a result of the alleged attack. Eventually she told her husband what she says occurred in therapy

Ford revealed that she had first mentioned her allegations to her husband during a major renovation of their home in Palo Alto, California (pictured). Ford said that she had wanted two front doors as a result of the anxiety and nervousness she had been left with as a result of the alleged attack. Eventually she told her husband what she says occurred in therapy

Mitchell’s questioning focused on the facts surrounding Ford’s story. She tried to pin down how Ford came to the conclusion the party happened in 1982.

‘I can’t give the exact date and I wish I could,’ Ford said.

She added she used her memories to narrow down a year.

‘I’m just using memories when I got my drivers’ license,’ she said. ‘I did not drive to or home from that party and once I got my driving license I liked to drive myself.’

President Trump was watching the hearing from Air Force One, as he returned from meetings at the United Nations in New York, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.  

In her testimony, Ford also explained why she came forward when she did, saying she thought it was her duty to offer her knowledge about a nominee to the Supreme Court. 

‘I thought it was my civic duty to relay the information I had about Mr. Kavanaugh’s conduct so that those considering his potential nomination would know about the assault,’ Ford said. 

She recounted how she wanted to keep her name confidential so she would not have to put her family at risk. Ford and her family had to leave their home after her name became public and she has received threats to her life. Security for herself was one of her conditions for Thursday’s hearing.

‘My hope was that providing the information confidentially would be sufficient to allow the Senate to consider Mr. Kavanaugh’s serious misconduct without having to make myself, my family, or anyone’s family vulnerable to the personal attacks and invasions of privacy we have faced since my name became public,’ she said.

But, she said, that changed when reports emerged Sen. Dianne Feinstein had a letter about a ‘#metoo’ situation involving Kavanaugh.

Ford had reported her allegation against Kavanaugh to Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, her California congresswoman. She also contacted The Washington Post’s tip line.

‘I stated that Mr. Kavanaugh had assaulted me in the 1980s in Maryland. This was an extremely hard thing for me to do, but I felt I couldn’t NOT do it,’ she said.

Ford met with Eshoo’s staff on Jul 11 and with the congresswoman herself on July 13. She then wrote a letter to Feinstein outlining her allegations, which was delivered to one of the senator’s aides by one of Eshoo’s aides.

‘Reporters appeared at my home and at my job demanding information about this letter, including in the presence of my graduate students. They called my boss and coworkers and left me many messages, making it clear that my name would inevitably be released to the media,’ she said.

‘I decided to speak out publicly to a journalist who had responded to the tip I had sent to The Washington Post and who had gained my trust. It was important to me to describe the details of the assault in my own words,’ Ford noted.

She offered words of appreciation for the thousands of message of support she has received but also described the threats against her.

‘My family and I have been the target of constant harassment and death threats. I have been called the most vile and hateful names imaginable. These messages, while far fewer than the expressions of support, have been terrifying to receive and have rocked me to my core,’ she said.

Rachel Mitchell, a prosecutor from Arizona, gestures to a map as she examines Ford

Rachel Mitchell, a prosecutor from Arizona, gestures to a map as she examines Ford

Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) talks with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) prior during the confirmation hearing 

Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) talks with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) prior during the confirmation hearing 

‘People have posted my personal information on the internet. This has resulted in additional emails, calls, and threats. My family and I were forced to move out of our home,’ she added.

Ford spoke so softly at the start of her remarks that Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked her to move the microphone closer so she could be heard.

She spoke of her fear at being before the panel of 21 senators.

‘I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,’ she said.

She also requested some caffeine and was brought a cup of coffee by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Grassley offered a break after her testimony but Ford declined.

‘I’m okay. I got the coffee so I’m okay,’ she said.

Questioning was then turned over prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who was hired by Republicans to ask questions for them. All eleven of the Republicans on the committee are white males, an image the GOP wants to avoid when it comes to asking questions about sexual assault.

Senators have the option of using Mitchell to ask their questions during their five minutes of time or asking them themselves.

Grassley, who started off the questioning, opted to use Mitchell.

Mitchell, a career prosecutor of sex crime cases, began her questioning with an apology. She noted Ford said she was terrified to be here. ‘I just wanted to let you know that I am very sorry,’ she said. 

At one point, Feinstein asked how she could be so sure that Kavanaugh was her attacker.

‘The same way that I’m sure that I’m talking to you right now. Basic memory functions and also just the level of norepinephrine and epinephrine in the brain that sort of as you know encodes – that neurotransmitter encodes memories into the hippocampus so the trauma related experience then is kind of locked there whereas other details kind of drift.’

Feinstein: ‘So what you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Ford replied.  

Ford’s emotional testimony came after the senior Republican and Democratic leaders of the committee clashed in their opening remarks over her and Kavanaugh’s treatment and the handling of Ford’s initial allegations, made in a letter to Dianne Feinstein, who is both the ranking Democratic member and the senior senator from Ford’s home state of California. 

Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, complained that committee Democrats sat on accusations from Christine Ford for more than six weeks, raising ‘secret evidence’ only after Kavanaugh’s hearings were thought to be over.

And he claimed no committee Democrats participated at all in vetting Judge Brett Kavanaugh, saying ‘stonewalling’ political opponents had slowed down a search for the truth.

Ford submitted to a polygraph test earlier this year, regarding her claims, which she passed

Ford submitted to a polygraph test earlier this year, regarding her claims, which she passed

The nation will be watching as Brett Kavanaugh, right, leaving his Maryland home Wednesday, gives his testimony today

The nation will be watching as Brett Kavanaugh, right, leaving his Maryland home Wednesday, gives his testimony today

Ford's yearbook photo

Kavanaugh's yearbook photo

Ford (left in her 1984 yearbook photo) claims the assault took place when she was 15 and Kavanaugh (right in his yearbook photo) was 17

Ranking committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California has said she kept them quiet at Ford’s request.

‘She wanted this held confidential, and I held it confidential up to a point where the witness was willing to come forward,’ Feinstein acknowledged, saying she understood how women who make sexual misconduct allegations can be dragged through the mud. 

The panel’s ranking Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, took immediate steps to broaden the case into a test of the general treatment of female accusers.

‘How women are treated in the United states with this kind of concern is really wanting a lot of reform,’ she said at the top of her remarks.

‘The entire country is watching how we handle these allegations she said.’

This is not a trial of Dr. Ford. It’s a job interview of Brett Kavanaugh,’ she said. ‘Is Brett Kavanaugh who we want in the most prestigious court in the country. Is he the best we can do?’ she asked.

Feinstein, who was one of the original recipients of Ford’s anonymous allegation, defended herself after Grassley send his own introduction complaining of how the information came out.

She also got a jump on the chairman by offering a generous introduction of the witness. 

‘But in the meantime good morning Dr. Ford,’ Feinstein said. ‘I know this wasn’t easy for you,’ she said.

She then began to offer an introduction of Ford, since Grassley had not yet done so.

‘I didn’t forget to do that,’ Grassley quickly jumped in.

Feinstein put the matter in the context of sexual assault accusations. ‘When survivors do report their assaults it’s often years later due to the trauma they suffered and fearing their stories will not be believed,’ she said.

Feinstein made an immediate comparison to Anita Hill’s accusations against Clarence Thomas.

‘She was treated badly accused of lying attacked and her credibility put to the test throughout the process,’ Feinstein said.

She said it took a ‘public outcry’ for Ford to get to come before the Judiciary panel.

Feinstein also brought up two Kavanaugh accusers who were not present: Debbie Ramirez and Julie Swetnick.

Of Ramirez, Feinstein said: ‘She was at a college party where Kavanaugh exposed himself to her.’

‘Each of these stories are troubling on their on and each of these allegations should be investigated by the FBI,’ said Feinstein. 

‘How women are treated in the United States with this kind of concern is really wanting a lot of reform,’ Feinstein said.

Grassley began with an apology to both Christine Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh for death threats and other intrusions they have endured since their names became front-page fodder. 

They ‘have been through a horrible couple weeks,’ he said, calling the pressure ‘unacceptable and a poor reflection on the state of civility in our democracy.’ 

Grassley said media leaks that forced Ford into the public eye were ‘a shameful way to treat our witness, who insisted on confidentiality.’ He also claimed Democrats have ‘refused to participate’ in vetting Kavanaugh afterward.

‘If they’re really concerned with going to the truth, why wouldn’t you want to talk to the accused?’ he asked.

Members of the Handmaid's Resistance AZ join another demonstrator in front of Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's office as they protest the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Thursday 

Members of the Handmaid’s Resistance AZ join another demonstrator in front of Republican Sen. Jeff Flake’s office as they protest the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Thursday 

Protesters gathered in the Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC, in support of Christine Blasey Ford 

Protesters gathered in the Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC, in support of Christine Blasey Ford 

Feinstein insisted Ford was unfairly risking ridicule by speaking about ‘being assaulted and fearing for her life,’ and she ‘did not want to make her story public.’ 

President Trump was ‘more annoyed than angered’ as he prepared to watch parts of a blockbuster Supreme Court hearing centered on vivid sexual misconduct charges against his nominee, a White House aide said Thursday morning.

The president will be looking intently at Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s performance, the aide explained, to ‘see whether he’s confident or timid’ – and decide whether his performance matches the strength of his written denials.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both placed calls to Kavanaugh on Thursday morning, telling him to be unequivocal and forceful when he insists he’s innocent, according to a second aide. 

The message: Be firm with the Democrats, and don’t worry about the accuser you never knew.

And as the nation steeled itself for a repeat of the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings where the nation first heard the name ‘Anita Hill,’ the commander-in-chief had a split focus.

Waking up in New York, he spent the early morning hearing his usual briefings before heading to the United Nations for a meeting with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and her senior aides.

The verbal fisticuffs got underway at 10:00 a.m., nearly a half-hour before he’s scheduled to board a helicopter on a pier in the East River and head home on Air Force One.

Trump planned to watch the drama unfold between Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Ford, while he flies back to Washington on Air Force One, the official said.

Other side: Pro-Kavanaugh groups were also present in Washington D.C. as the Republicans try to rally round their embattled nominee

Other side: Pro-Kavanaugh groups were also present in Washington D.C. as the Republicans try to rally round their embattled nominee

‘I want to watch,’ the president told reporters Wednesday during an hour-long press conference. ‘I want to see. I hope I can watch.’

Ford has alleged that a drunken, teenage Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a high school party in 1982, pinning her to a bed and covering her mouth so she couldn’t shout for help.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have been busily assembling his defense. In a summary of their work distributed Wednesday night, the GOP’s committee staff reported speaking to at least two men who believe they, not Kavanaugh, might have been responsible.

In his first sign of second-thinking, Trump said Wednesday that he might be persuaded to withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination if the evidence and his hearing performance suggested Ford is telling the truth. 

‘If I thought he was guilty of something like this, yeah sure,’ he said.

Coverage of the hearing began early in the morning on every cable news channel and all three major networks.

Morning broadcast programming was pre-empted in most cases during the hours when Ford is set to testify, but it was unclear whether ABC, CBS and NBC would do the same for Kavanaugh later in the day – replacing their usual diet of fictional soap operas for the real thing.

Trump claimed Wednesday that he would be ‘meeting with a lot of countries tomorrow, but I will certainly, in some form, be able to watch.’

In what could be a sign of the increasing importance of Thursday’s high-stakes spectacle, his official schedule had no foreign meetings at all.

And the president’s entire afternoon, including Kavanaugh’s hot-seat hours, were left completely empty.

Asked Wednesday if Ford and Kavanaugh’s two other named accusers were liars, Trump punted.

Since Ford has come forward, both Julie Swetnick (pictured) and Deborah Ramirez have accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault

Ramirez claims that Kavanaugh placed his penis in front of her and caused her to involuntary touch it during a party at Yale University

Since Ford has come forward, both Julie Swetnick (left) and Deborah Ramirez (right) have accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault 

‘I can’t tell you. I have to watch tomorrow…I can’t tell you whether or not they’re liars until I hear them,’ he said. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have been busily assembling his defense. In a summary of their work distributed Wednesday night, the GOP’s committee staff reported speaking to at least two men who believe they, not Kavanaugh, might have been responsible.

In his first sign of second-thinking, Trump said Wednesday that he might be persuaded to withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination if the evidence and his hearing performance suggested Ford is telling the truth.

‘If I thought he was guilty of something like this, yeah sure,’ he said.

Coverage of the hearing began early in the morning on every cable news channel and all three major networks.

Morning broadcast programming was pre-empted in most cases during the hours when Ford is set to testify, but it was unclear whether ABC, CBS and NBC would do the same for Kavanaugh later in the day – replacing their usual diet of fictional soap operas for the real thing.

Trump claimed Wednesday that he would be ‘meeting with a lot of countries tomorrow, but I will certainly, in some form, be able to watch.’

In what could be a sign of the increasing importance of Thursday’s high-stakes spectacle, his official schedule had no foreign meetings at all.

And the president’s entire afternoon, including Kavanaugh’s hot-seat hours, were left completely empty.

Asked Wednesday if Ford and Kavanaugh’s two other named accusers were liars, Trump punted.

‘I can’t tell you. I have to watch tomorrow. … I can’t tell you whether or not they’re liars until I hear them,’ he said.  

READ CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD’S FULL OPENING STATEMENT TO SENATORS ACCUSING BRETT KAVANAUGH

Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, Members of the Committee. 

My name is Christine Blasey Ford. I am a Professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University and a Research Psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. 

I was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina and earned my degree in Experimental Psychology in 1988. 

I received a Master’s degree in 1991 in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. In 1996, I received a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California. 

I earned a Master’s degree in Epidemiology from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2009. I have been married to Russell Ford since 2002 and we have two children.

I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. 

I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.

I have described the events publicly before. I summarized them in my letter to Ranking Member Feinstein, and again in my letter to Chairman Grassley.

I understand and appreciate the importance of your hearing from me directly about what happened to me and the impact it has had on my life and on my family. 

I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. I attended the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, from 1980 to 1984. Holton-Arms is an all-girls school that opened in 1901. 

During my time at the school, girls at Holton-Arms frequently met and became friendly with boys from all-boys schools in the area, including Landon School, Georgetown Prep, Gonzaga High 2 School, country clubs, and other places where kids and their families socialized. 

This is how I met Brett Kavanaugh, the boy who sexually assaulted me. 

In my freshman and sophomore school years, when I was 14 and 15 years old, my group of friends intersected with Brett and his friends for a short period of time. 

I had been friendly with a classmate of Brett’s for a short time during my freshman year, and it was through that connection that I attended a number of parties that Brett also attended. 

We did not know each other well, but I knew him and he knew me. In the summer of 1982, like most summers, I spent almost every day at the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland swimming and practicing diving. 

One evening that summer, after a day of swimming at the club, I attended a small gathering at a house in the Chevy Chase/Bethesda area. 

There were four boys I remember being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, P.J. Smyth, and one other boy whose name I cannot recall. I remember my friend Leland Ingham attending. 

I do not remember all of the details of how that gathering came together, but like many that summer, it was almost surely a spur of the moment gathering.

I truly wish I could provide detailed answers to all of the questions that have been and will be asked about how I got to the party, where it took place, and so forth. 

I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t remember as much as I would like to. 

But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget. 

They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult. 

When I got to the small gathering, people were drinking beer in a small living room on the first floor of the house. I drank one beer that evening. Brett and Mark were visibly drunk. 

Early in the evening, I went up a narrow set of stairs leading from the living room to a second floor to use the bathroom. 

When I got to the top of the stairs, I was pushed from behind into a bedroom. I couldn’t see who pushed me. 

Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them. There was music already playing in the bedroom. 

It was turned up louder by either Brett or Mark once we were in the room. I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. 

He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me. I yelled, hoping someone downstairs might hear me, and tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy. 

Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was so drunk, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit under my clothes.

I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming. 

This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me. 

Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time. 

Mark was urging Brett on, although at times he told Brett to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not. 

During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. 

The last time he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me. I was able to get up and run out of the room. 

Directly across from the bedroom was a small bathroom. I ran inside the bathroom and locked the door. 

I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairs, pin-balling off the walls on the way down. 

I waited and when I did not hear them come back up the stairs, I left the bathroom, ran down the stairs, through the living room, and left the house.

I remember being on the street and feeling an enormous sense of relief that I had escaped the house and that Brett and Mark were not coming outside after me.

Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life. For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details. 

I did not want to tell my parents that I, at age 15, was in a house without any parents present, drinking beer with boys. 

I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should just move and just pretend that it didn’t happen.

Over the years, I told very few friends that I had this traumatic experience. I told my husband before we were married that I had experienced a sexual assault. 

I had never told the details to anyone until May 2012, during a couples counseling session. 

The reason this came up in counseling is that my husband and I had completed a very extensive, very long, remodel of our home, and I insisted on a second front door, an idea that he and others disagreed with and could not understand. 

In explaining why I wanted to have a second front door, I described the assault in detail. 

I recall saying that the boy who assaulted me could someday be on the U.S. Supreme Court and spoke a bit about his background. My husband recalls that I named my attacker as Brett Kavanaugh. 

After that May 2012 therapy session, I did my best to suppress memories of the assault because recounting the details caused me to relive the experience, and caused panic attacks and anxiety.

Occasionally I would discuss the assault in individual therapy, but talking about it caused me to relive the trauma, so I tried not to think about it or discuss it. 

But over the years, I went through periods where I thought about Brett’s attack. 

I confided in some close friends that I had an experience with sexual assault. Occasionally I stated that my assailant was a prominent lawyer or judge but I did not use his name.

I do not recall each person I spoke to about Brett’s assault, and some friends have reminded me of these conversations since the publication of The Washington Post story on September 16, 2018. 

But until July 2018, I had never named Mr. Kavanaugh as my attacker outside of therapy. 

This all changed in early July 2018. I saw press reports stating that Brett Kavanaugh was on the ‘short list’ of potential Supreme Court nominees. 

I thought it was my civic duty to relay the information I had about Mr. Kavanaugh’s conduct so that those considering his potential nomination would know about the assault. 

On July 6, 2018, I had a sense of urgency to relay the information to the Senate and the President as soon as possible before a nominee was selected. 

I called my congressional representative and let her receptionist know that someone on the President’s shortlist had attacked me. 

I also sent a message to The Washington Post’s confidential tip line. I did not use my name, but I provided the names of Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. 

I stated that Mr. Kavanaugh had assaulted me in the 1980s in Maryland. This was an extremely hard thing for me to do, but I felt I couldn’t NOT do it. 

Over the next two days, I told a couple of close friends on the beach in California that Mr. Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted me. 

I was conflicted about whether to speak out. 

On July 9, 2018, I received a call from the office of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo after Mr. Kavanaugh had become the nominee. 

I met with her staff on July 11 and with her on July 13, describing the assault and discussing my fear about coming forward. 

Later, we discussed the possibility of sending a letter to Ranking Member Feinstein, who is one of my state’s Senators, describing what occurred. 

My understanding is that Representative Eshoo’s office delivered a copy of my letter to Senator Feinstein’s office on July 30, 2018.

The letter included my name, but requested that the letter be kept confidential. 

My hope was that providing the information confidentially would be sufficient to allow the Senate to consider Mr. Kavanaugh’s serious misconduct without having to make myself, my family, or anyone’s family vulnerable to the personal attacks and invasions of privacy we have faced since my name became public. 

In a letter on August 31, 2018, Senator Feinstein wrote that she would not share the letter without my consent.

I greatly appreciated this commitment. All sexual assault victims should be able to decide for themselves whether their private experience is made public. 

As the hearing date got closer, I struggled with a terrible choice: Do I share the facts with the Senate and put myself and my family in the public spotlight?

Or do I preserve our privacy and allow the Senate to make its decision on Mr. Kavanaugh’s nomination without knowing the full truth about his past behavior? 

I agonized daily with this decision throughout August and early September 2018.

The sense of duty that motivated me to reach out confidentially to The Washington Post, Representative Eshoo’s office, and Senator Feinstein’s office was always there, but my fears of the consequences of speaking out started to increase. 

During August 2018, the press reported that Mr. Kavanaugh’s confirmation was virtually certain. 

Persons painted him as a champion of women’s rights and empowerment. I believed that if I came forward, my voice would be drowned out by a chorus of powerful supporters.

By the time of the confirmation hearings, I had resigned myself to remaining quiet and letting the Committee and the Senate make their decision without knowing what Mr. Kavanaugh had done to me.

Once the press started reporting on the existence of the letter I had sent to Senator Feinstein, I faced mounting pressure. 

Reporters appeared at my home and at my workplace demanding information about this letter, in the presence of my graduate students.

They called my bosses and coworkers and left me many messages, making it clear that my name would inevitably be released to the media. 

I decided to speak out publicly to a journalist who had originally responded to the tip I had sent to The Washington Post and who had gained my trust. It was important for me to describe the details of the assault in my own words. 

Since September 16th, the date of The Washington Post story, I have experienced an outpouring of support from people in every state of this country. 

Thousands and thousands of people who have had their lives dramatically altered by sexual violence have reached out to share their experience and have thanked me for coming forward. 

We have received tremendous support from our friends and our community. At the same time, my greatest fears have been realized – and the reality has been far worse than what I expected. 

My family and I have been the target of constant harassment and death threats and I have been called the most vile and hateful names imaginable. 

These messages, while far fewer than the expressions of support, have been terrifying and have rocked me to my core.

People have posted my personal information and that of my parents online on the internet. 

This has resulted in additional emails, calls, and threats. My family and I were forced to move out of our home. 

Since September 16, my family and I have been living in various secure locales, at time separated and at times together, with security guards. 

This past Tuesday evening, my work email account was hacked and messages were sent out trying to recant my description of the sexual assault.

Apart from the assault itself, these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life.

I have had to relive my trauma in front of the entire world, and have seen my life picked apart by people on television, in the media, and in this body who have never met me or spoken with me.

I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives. 

Those who say that do not know me. I am an independent person and I am no one’s pawn. 

My motivation in coming forward was to be helpful and provide facts about how Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions have damaged my life, so that you can take into a serious consideration as you make your decision about how to proceed. 

It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. 

My responsibility is to tell you the truth. 

I understand that a professional prosecutor has been hired to ask me questions, and I am committed to doing my very best to answer them.

I have never been questioned by a prosecutor and I will do my best. 

At the same time, because the Committee Members will be judging my credibility, I hope to be able to engage directly with each of you. 

At this point, I will do my best to answer your questions.

And I request some caffeine.

[Some Coke or something?]

That sounds great. Thank you. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk