More than 20 million people watched Kavanaugh hearing
NEW YORK — More than 20 million people watched Thursday’s gripping testimony by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who accused him of a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in the 1980s, Christine Blasey Ford, on six television networks.
Meanwhile, the political standoff continued, with broadcasters interrupting regular programming for Friday’s last-minute twist: an agreement engineered by Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake for the FBI to conduct a oneweek investigation of the charges.
Ms. Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she’s 100 percent certain that Judge Kavanaugh groped her drunkenly and tried to take off her clothes at a high school party. Judge Kavanaugh, in impassioned testimony, said he’s 100 percent certain that it didn’t happen.
It’s likely that more than the 20.4 million people reported by Nielsen on Friday watched it. The company was counting average viewership on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. Figures weren’t immediately available for other networks that showed it, including PBS, CSPAN and the Fox Business Network. And Nielsen usually has some trouble measuring people who watch in offices.
To put that in perspective, that’s an audience size similar to that for a playoff football game or the Academy Awards.
Fox News Channel, whose opinion hosts have strongly backed the appointment, led all networks with an average of 5.69 million viewers, Nielsen said.
ABC was second with 3.26 million viewers. CBS had 3.1 million, NBC had 2.94 million, MSNBC had 2.89 million and CNN had 2.52 million, Nielsen said.
Interest remained high after the hearing. Nielsen said 11.8 million people watched cable shows hosted by Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow or Chris Cuomo at 9 p.m. on Thursday, which likely put a dent in viewership for fall premieres of broadcast network prime-time shows.
Mr. Flake was the central figure in Friday’s drama. After his office issued a statement that he would be voting in favor of Judge Kavanaugh, he was caught by CNN and CBS cameras Friday morning being shouted at by protesters as he tried to ride an elevator to a Judiciary Committee hearing.
He stood with eyes downcast as he was berated, televised live on CNN. “I’m standing right here in front of you,” one woman said. “Do you think he’s telling the truth to the country?”
He was told, “you have power when so many women are powerless.”
Mr. Flake said his office had issued a statement and said, before the elevator closed, that he would have more to say at the hearing.
When the committee was to vote to advance the nomination to the full Senate, Mr. Flake said he would only do so with the understanding that the FBI would look into the allegations for the next week, which minority Democrats have been urging.
Mr. Flake’s words had power because it was evident Republicans would not have the votes to approve Judge Kavanaugh without the investigation.