The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Kavanaugh hits back and denies all allegations
CONGRESS: Alleged victim tells Senate committee she thought Trump’s Supreme Court nominee was going to rape her
Brett Kavanaugh denied allegations that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when both were high school students and angrily told Congress that Democrats were engaged in “a calculated and orchestrated political hit”.
In her own testimony, Ms Ford told the same Senate Judiciary Committee that she was “100%” certain a drunken young Mr Kavanaugh had pinned her to a bed, tried to remove her clothes and clapped a hand over her mouth as she tried to yell for help.
She described “uproarious laughter” by Mr Kavanaugh and his friend, whom she said was also involved in the alleged incident in a locked bedroom at a gathering of high school friends.
The Judiciary panel’s day-long hearing, an extraordinary Senate airing of long-ago and painfully personal memories, came as GOP support for Mr Kavanaugh’s ascension to Supreme Court lay in the balance.
Mr Kavanaugh vowed to continue his bid to join the high court, to which US President Donald Trump nominated him in July.
Now a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, Mr Kavanaugh angrily said: “You may defeat me in the final vote, but you’ll never get me to quit, never.”
Both Mr Kavanaugh and Ms Ford testified under sworn oath.
In her three hours of testimony, Ms Ford, now 51, said of Mr Kavanaugh: “I believed he was going to rape me.”
As deferential and hushed as Ms Ford’s delivery was, Mr Kavanaugh’s was incensed and combative.
When Senator Richard Durbin pressed him to request an FBI probe, Mr Kavanaugh said he would do whatever the committee wished and repeatedly refused to change that position.
President Trump tweeted that Mr Kavanaugh “showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting.”
He went on: “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!”