She has given an opening statement that has riveted the room….
As I type this she is being questioned by the women lawyer the Republican men on the committee brought in….
Dr. Blasey delivered her opening statement, at times through tears, at times resolute — but always with palpable emotion.
[Read Dr. Blasey’s opening statement here.]
Speaking her first words in public, Dr. Blasey told senators in explicit detail, her voice breaking at times, of the night she said the future Judge Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed, tried to rip her clothes off and clapped his mouth over her as she screamed.
“It was hard for me to breathe and I believed that Brett was going to accidentally kill me,” she said.
She said death threats and vile epithets have “rocked me to my core.”
The main test for Dr. Blasey was whether she could appear credible before the senators, especially Republicans who have suggested that she is suffering from a case of mistaken identity — or that she has partisan motives.
She addressed the latter issue directly.
“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. My motivation in coming forward was to provide the facts about how Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions have damaged my life, so that you can take that into serious consideration as you make your decision about how to proceed.”
She also poked holes in the mistaken identity theory when she described how she and Judge Kavanaugh met when their social circles intersected. She remembered his friends, including Mark Judge, who she said was in the room, while practicing swimming and diving at Columbia Country Club in suburban Maryland.
“This is how I met Brett Kavanaugh, the boy who eventually assaulted me,” she said.
Next she is being questioned by Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona prosecutor specializing in sex crimes chosen by the Republican leadership…..
Update….
Highlights from first part of Ford’s questioning…
What’s new [12:21 PM]: Ford confirmed that she reached out to her congresswoman while Kavanaugh was still on the shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees and that she did so out of a sense of “civic duty.”….
image…NY Post
Taegan Goddard
@politicalwire
Christine Ford saying what she remembers most vividly is Kavanaugh and Judge’s laughter is the most damning moment of this hearing.
twitter…
Taegan Goddard
@politicalwire
If Republicans push through the Kavanaugh nomination, I really think they’ll lose the Senate. They have a massive problem with women and it’s getting worse by the minute.
We’ll see what Kavanaugh says but right now?
But for his and the parties sake?
He should be thinking about dropping out….
Vox
@voxdotcom
Poll: 48% of white evangelicals would support Brett Kavanaugh even if the allegations against him were true
Idea mentioned in a CNN roundtable….
What happens if Judge Kavanaugh gets the job and Democrats in a majority in Congress after Jan 1 decide to reopen investigations on a sitting US Supreme Court judge?…..
What good would that do?
Once he’s confirmed he can only be removed via impeachment and conviction.
A damning indictment of these “good people who are concerned about their country.”
Well now Kavenaugh is up in half an hour. We’ll see if he does well enough to stay the nominee or Trunp pulls him to appoint the pro choice librul he REALLY wants on the Court
Silly.
Brett is indignant, someone should tell him that only Clarence Thomas can pull this off.
He actually said this was payback for Hillary Clinton.
He’s unhinged. A woman could not act like this.
Yep Kavanaugh basically threatened an entire political party saying “what goes around comes around” for Democrats.
He does not have the temperament to be a judge.
Much less a Supreme Court justice.
He seems to have gone almost completely political….
He has also backed MORE away from the choir boy thing admitting that he liked to drink…
He actually sounds like a guy that would be appearing before a judge without a lawyer in a criminal court….
This should bring flashbacks to Jack’s doing his job….
Even on FOX News they are calling this “devastating”