Angry Kavanaugh denies Ford’s sex-assault claim
Republicans push ahead and schedule committee vote Friday
WASHINGTON – The ideological direction of the nation’s highest court for the next generation teetered Thursday on the riveting, emotional testimony and the credibility of a college professor who accused a judge on the brink of confirmation to the Supreme Court of sexual assault 36 years ago.
Republicans’ dream of turning the Supreme Court into a conservative bulwark rests on the shoulders of Brett Kavanaugh, 53, whose path to the pinnacle of justice is jeopardized by accusations of sexual assault when he was a teenager.
Republican leaders scheduled a Friday morning vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Kavanaugh. However, it was unclear whether Republicans had the votes to confirm the nominee.
If the committee approves the nomination, it would then go to the full Senate. Kavanaugh’s appointment could be approved as early as Tuesday.
“I think it’s time to vote,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters immediately after the hearing.
Whether Kavanaugh survives may depend on a handful of Republican senators. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both supporters of abortion rights, have remained noncommittal. So has Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a member of the judiciary panel and frequent critic of Trump. Flake is not seeking re-election.
Emotions boiled over Thursday when Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., angrily challenged his Democratic colleagues.
“What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life,” Graham railed against Democrats. “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.”
Standing in Kavanaugh’s path to the high court is Christine Blasey Ford.
Kavanaugh, his anger palpable while reading his opening statement, vehemently denied allegations of sexual misconduct. He blamed Democrats and “the left” for “grotesque” character assassination.
“I swear today, under oath, before the Senate and the nation, before my family and God, I am innocent of this charge,” Kavanaugh said.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., repeatedly pushed Kavanaugh to say whether he supports an FBI investigation of the allegations. The judge said he would do whatever the committee wanted and contended that the FBI doesn’t reach conclusions, and the committee had sworn statements from witnesses who said they didn’t remember any such gathering.
Kavanaugh vowed not to withdraw from the nomination fight. “You may defeat me in the final vote, but you’ll never get me to quit. Never.”
Whom to believe? In a Senate divided 51-49 in favor of Republicans, the thinnest of margins matters. Kavanaugh and Ford took different tacks in testifying: Kavanaugh was animated and angry at times, interrupting Democratic senators; Ford was more reticent.
Ford, speaking publicly for the first time about the allegations, said she was terrified to testify but added that it was her “civic duty.”
She sipped from a bottle of Coke at times, her testimony electrifying the hearing room and reverberating across the country.
“The details about that night that bring me here today are ones that I will never forget,” Ford said. “They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult.” She said she was “100 percent” certain of her attacker’s identity.
Ford detailed the night, her voice choking with emotion at times. She recalled that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge, both drunk, locked her in a bedroom at the home of a friend whose parents weren’t home.
Kavanaugh, Ford said, pinned her to a bed, ground himself into her and tore at her clothes.
Music had been turned up, and Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth to silence her screams for help, she said.
“I believed he was going to rape me,” she said.
She said she broke free, fled to a bathroom and waited until Kavanaugh and Judge left.
There was no doubt, Ford said, that Kavanaugh was her assailant. “Absolutely not,” she said.
Ford made her remarks before senators and a packed hearing room. She was questioned by an Arizona prosecutor on behalf of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee and by Democratic senators.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, opened the hearing by apologizing to Ford and Kavanaugh.
“I want to apologize to you both for the way you’ve been treated, and I intend hopefully for today’s hearing to be safe, comfortable and dignified for both of our witnesses,” Grassley said.
Grassley defended the choice of Rachel Mitchell to lead the questioning of Ford. Mitchell is a Maricopa County, Arizona, prosecutor with lengthy experience seeking justice for victims of sexual crimes.
Mitchell’s methodical questions sought to draw Ford’s memories of the night. But the narrative was interrupted by the five-minute limit on questions by Republicans and Democrats.
Mitchell pointed out that Ford didn’t raise Kavanaugh’s name when describing to her husband what happened before they were married. She also sought to poke holes in Ford’s fear of flying, noting the professor flies frequently.