Kavanaugh accuser says she feared Supreme Court pick would rape her
POOL/AFP / SAUL LOEBChristine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party 36 years ago, testifies before the US Senate Judiciary Committee
University professor Christine Blasey Ford said Thursday she believed she was going to be raped or accidentally killed during an alleged assault 36 years ago by Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump's embattled nominee for the Supreme Court.
"I am here today not because I want to be," the 51-year-old Blasey Ford told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a charged hearing room.
"I am terrified," she said, her voice quavering on the verge of tears as she recounted the details of the 1982 incident which she says took place at a party in a suburban Maryland home.
"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," Blasey Ford said.
Kavanaugh, a conservative 53-year-old appeals court judge, was not present as the session -- which could make or break his confirmation to the nation's highest court -- got underway. He is expected to testify later in the day.
The accusation, which Kavanaugh steadfastly denies, has thrust the Trump administration into the #MeToo movement's harsh glare, and threatens to derail a conservative effort to tilt the high court to the right for years to come.
AFP / Jose Luis MaganaProtestors in the Hart Senate Office Building in support of Christine Blasey Ford, who is testifying against Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
Blasey Ford, wearing glasses and a sober dark blue suit, recounted the alleged assault from the witness table in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room.
A psychology professor in California who is married and has two children, she said she was "100 percent" certain it was Kavanaugh who attacked her and not a case of mistaken identity.
She said Kavanaugh and a friend of his, Mark Judge, were "visibly drunk" at the party and that she was pushed into a bedroom as she headed to the bathroom.
"Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them," she said. "I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me.
- 'I believed he was going to rape me' -
"He began running his hands over my body and grinding into me," she said. "I yelled, hoping that someone downstairs might hear me.
AFP / Brendan SmialowskiA note to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of a hearing during which she is to testify about being allegedly assaulted decades ago by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
"Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes," she said. "He had a hard time because he was very inebriated.
"I believed he was going to rape me," Blasey Ford said. "I tried to yell for help.
"When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from yelling," she said. "This is 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 said.
"Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two, and them having fun at my expense," she said when asked about her most powerful memory of the incident.
Blasey Ford said she managed to escape when Judge jumped on the bed, sending them all toppling.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley opened the hearing with an apology to both Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh.
"Both Dr Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have been through a terrible couple weeks. They and their families have received vile threats," Grassley said.
"So I want to apologize to you both for the way you've been treated."
Outside the US Capitol, pro- and anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators gathered as senators pondered the fate of a nominee who could impact the balance of the top US court for decades.
Trump nominated Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been a swing vote on a court currently divided between four conservative and four liberal justices.
The Republican president has fiercely defended his pick -- but said Wednesday he would watch the highly charged hearing and was open to changing his mind.
"I can always be convinced," Trump said. "If I thought he was guilty of something like this, yes, sure.
"It's possible I'll hear that, and I'll say, 'Hey, I'm changing my mind.'"
At the same time, Trump said he was skeptical because he personally had been the target of "false charges" by various women.
- 'No one's pawn' -
Blasey Ford rejected suggestions she had political motivations.
AFP / AFPThe make-up of the US Supreme Court as President Trump's nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces sexual assault allegations before the US Senate
"I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives," she said. "Those who say that do not know me.
"I am a fiercely independent person and I am no one's pawn," she said.
Kavanaugh has also been accused of exposing himself to a classmate, Deborah Ramirez, during an alcohol-fueled Yale University party a few years later.
On Wednesday, a third woman, Julie Swetnick, came forward with explosive allegations, saying she witnessed sexually abusive behavior by Kavanaugh when he was a teenager and claimed she had been drugged and gang-raped at a party he attended in the early 1980s.
Kavanaugh strongly denies all the charges.
The Kavanaugh nomination has turned into a political firestorm ahead of November congressional elections and is threatening to derail Trump's push to get a conservative-minded majority on the top court ahead of the vote.
The hearing has brought back memories of the confirmation process nearly three decades ago for Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill.
"In 1991, Republicans belittled Professor Hill's experience," California Senator Dianne Feinstein said. "She was treated badly."
"The entire country is watching how we handle these allegations," Feinstein said.
"This is not a trial of Dr Ford," she added. "It's a job interview for Judge Kavanaugh."
Day of reckoning for Trump's Supreme Court pick over assault allegations
AFP/File / SAUL LOEBJudge Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the second day of his US Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to be a Supreme Court justice
Washington was bracing Thursday for a charged hearing pitting Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh against his accuser Christine Blasey Ford, who is set to detail sexual assault allegations against the judge that could derail his already turbulent confirmation process.
On the eve of the high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee hearing the US president had praised his choice for the nation's top bench -- but said he would be open to withdrawing his nomination if he finds testimony on Thursday about sexual assault allegations against him to be credible.
"I can always be convinced," Trump said of the hearing featuring Blasey Ford, a university professor who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers.
"If I thought he was guilty of something like this, yes, sure," Trump said at a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. "It's possible I'll hear that, and I'll say, 'Hey, I'm changing my mind.'"
"I look forward to what she has to say," Trump said. "I also look forward to what Judge Kavanaugh has to say."
"I think it's going to be a very important day in the history of our country."
In prepared testimony released on Wednesday, the 51-year-old Blasey Ford said she feared Kavanaugh would rape her during the attack, which she said occurred in the summer of 1982.
AFP / Nicholas KammUS President Donald Trump praised his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh but said he was open to withdrawing his nomination if allegations of sexual assault against him prove credible
Blasey Ford said the incident left her "drastically altered," but it was her "civic duty" to tell lawmakers what happened.
Kavanaugh has also been accused of exposing himself to a classmate, Deborah Ramirez, during an alcohol-fueled Yale University party a few years later.
On Wednesday, a third woman came forward with explosive allegations, saying she witnessed sexually abusive behavior by Kavanaugh when he was a teenager.
Trump described Kavanaugh as a "great gentleman" and a "great intellect" and said he believed the accusations against the conservative judge were "false."
- 'Big, fat con job' -
Trump said he was skeptical because he personally had been the target of "false statements" in the past made by various women.
"I've had a lot of false charges made against me," he said. "People want fame, they want money, they want whatever."
AFP / AFPUS Supreme Court justices
He also slammed his Democratic opponents, accusing them of being "con artists" and destroying the 53-year-old judge's reputation.
The Kavanaugh nomination has turned into a political firestorm ahead of November congressional elections and is threatening to derail Trump's push to get a conservative-minded majority on the top court ahead of the vote.
Democrats on Wednesday demanded that Trump withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination or order an FBI investigation.
"He is asking for a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court where he will have the opportunity to rule on matters that will impact Americans for decades," the 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said in a letter to the president.
The third woman to come forward, Julie Swetnick, said she saw Kavanaugh engage in sexually abusive behavior as a teenager and claimed she had been drugged and gang-raped at a party he attended in approximately 1982.
Kavanaugh strongly denied the allegations by Swetnick, 55, who has worked extensively for the federal government.
"This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone," he said in a statement. "I don't know who this is and this never happened."
Later, the judiciary committee said it had received a fourth allegation, this time in a letter from an anonymous source who said their daughter and others had witnessed Kavanaugh physically assault a woman while intoxicated in Washington in 1998, shoving her "up against the wall very aggressively and sexually."
But a spokesman for the committee told AFP the letter lacked credibility and the panel had no way to investigate the matter because the complaint was anonymous.
- 'Physically aggressive behavior' -
Swetnick said she saw Kavanaugh behave as a "mean drunk" at parties they both attended growing up in suburban Maryland.
AFP/File / SAUL LOEBDemonstrators protest against the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be a Supreme Court Justice outside the US Supreme Court in Washington
"I observed Brett Kavanaugh drink excessively at many of these parties and engage in abusive and physically aggressive behavior towards girls, including pressing girls against him without their consent, 'grinding' against girls, and attempting to remove or shift girls' clothing to expose private body parts," Swetnick said.
She did not specifically claim Kavanaugh took part or that he was aware of her rape, but said that he and other boys in his circle engaged in similar behavior.
She said she saw efforts by "Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of numerous boys.
"I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their 'turn' with a girl inside the room," she said.
"These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh," she said. Judge is a boyhood friend of Kavanaugh who has written a book describing the debauchery of his high school years.
Kavanaugh, in prepared testimony released on Wednesday, repeated his denial of Blasey Ford's allegation and said "this effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out."
He told Senate Judiciary Committee investigators that he is "looking forward" to the hearing on Thursday, according to a transcript of a call released by the committee.
"I look forward to defending my name, defending my integrity,"Kavanaugh said.
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