University professor Christine Blasey Ford said on 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,” Ms. Blasey Ford said.
Mr. 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 under way. He is expected to testify later in the day. The accusation, which Mr. 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.
Ms. 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%” certain it was Mr. Kavanaugh who attacked her and it was not a case of mistaken identity.
‘Visibly drunk’
She said Mr. 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... He had a hard time because he was very inebriated. I believed he was going to rape me,” Ms. Ford said. “I tried to yell for help.”
Ms. 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 Ms. Ford and Mr. Kavanaugh.
“Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have been through a terrible couple of weeks. They and their families have received vile threats,” Mr. Grassley said. “So I want to apologise to you both for the way you've been treated.”
Balance of court
Outside the U.S. Capitol, pro- and anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators gathered as senators pondered the fate of a nominee who could impact the balance of the top U.S. court for decades.
Mr. Trump nominated Mr. 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 on Wednesday he would watch the highly charged hearing and was open to changing his mind.
“I can always be convinced,” Mr. 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.'”
