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| Kavanaugh Hearing: What to Watch as Christine Blasey Ford Heads to Capitol Hill | Kavanaugh Hearing: What to Watch as Christine Blasey Ford Heads to Capitol Hill |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| • Christine Blasey Ford will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about her accusation that Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, sexually assaulted her. | |
| • Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation was thrown into turmoil after Dr. Blasey came forward with the claim that he assaulted her at a party when they were both in high school. He denies it. | • Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation was thrown into turmoil after Dr. Blasey came forward with the claim that he assaulted her at a party when they were both in high school. He denies it. |
| • Since Dr. Blasey came forward, two more women have accused him of sexual misconduct at parties in high school and in college. | |
| An hour before the hearing, Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, held a news conference in support of Dr. Blasey, flanked by trauma experts who spoke of the difficult and often hostile cultural attitudes faced by survivors of sexual abuse. | |
| Ms. Murray was one of a number of female senators who was emboldened to run for office after watching Anita F. Hill testify in 1991, and she referenced that experience directly, calling on her colleagues to learn from their past mistakes. | |
| “In 1991, I and millions of women across the country watched as Anita Hill was interrogated and attacked and the Senate failed this crucial test,” Ms. Murray said. “Twenty-seven years later, in 2018, we need to do better and we certainly should not do worse.” | |
| As Ms. Murray delivered her remarks, dozens of protesters supporting Dr. Blasey poured into the Hart Senate Office Building, chanting “we won’t go back” and wearing shirts that said “Believe Women.” Four young women, wearing their Holton-Arms uniforms, walked through the Hart office buildings hallways, arms linked together. | |
| Public access is extremely limited inside the hearing room. Several members of Congress plan to attend — their seats are being held by members of their staff — and also in the audience is Alyssa Milano, the actress and a co-founder of the Women’s March, who told reporters she is here to support Christine Blasey Ford. | |
| Ms. Milano, attending at the invitation of Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said she has stark memories of the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings. “I remember it really was the foundation of my learning what sexual harassment was,” Ms. Milano said. | |
| Access for the press is also extremely limited. At Judge Kavanaugh’s first confirmation hearings there were 156 seats in the room for reporters. Today there are 48. | |
| Lawyers for Dr. Blasey, a research psychologist in California, have been tight-lipped about how they are preparing for the hearing, but they said in a statement on Wednesday that “she is ready.” Since she came forward, Dr. Blasey and her family have received death threats and were forced to move out of their house. | Lawyers for Dr. Blasey, a research psychologist in California, have been tight-lipped about how they are preparing for the hearing, but they said in a statement on Wednesday that “she is ready.” Since she came forward, Dr. Blasey and her family have received death threats and were forced to move out of their house. |
| “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,” Dr. Blasey will say, according to her prepared remarks. “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.” | “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,” Dr. Blasey will say, according to her prepared remarks. “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.” |
| [Read Dr. Blasey’s prepared statement here.] | |
| She will also come armed with a rebuttal to one of the Republicans’ central plans: that she misidentified Judge Kavanaugh as her accuser. “We did not know each other well,” she will say, “but I knew him and he knew me.” | She will also come armed with a rebuttal to one of the Republicans’ central plans: that she misidentified Judge Kavanaugh as her accuser. “We did not know each other well,” she will say, “but I knew him and he knew me.” |
| But Dr. Blasey will also face scrutinizing and at times uncomfortable questioning about the episode, and she has already said that she cannot remember the specific date or location of the assault. Republicans have hired Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor, to lead their portion of the questioning, which Dr. Blasey’s lawyers have argued will inappropriately give a political proceeding the feel of a courtroom examination. Democratic senators will question the witnesses themselves. | But Dr. Blasey will also face scrutinizing and at times uncomfortable questioning about the episode, and she has already said that she cannot remember the specific date or location of the assault. Republicans have hired Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor, to lead their portion of the questioning, which Dr. Blasey’s lawyers have argued will inappropriately give a political proceeding the feel of a courtroom examination. Democratic senators will question the witnesses themselves. |
| [Read: How trauma and time affect memory of trauma like sexual assaults.] | |
| A number of key Republican swing votes — Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have indicated that they will be closely watching Dr. Blasey’s testimony before deciding how to vote. The votes of moderate Democratic senators up for re-election this fall in states that Mr. Trump won in 2016 are also potentially still up for grabs. | A number of key Republican swing votes — Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have indicated that they will be closely watching Dr. Blasey’s testimony before deciding how to vote. The votes of moderate Democratic senators up for re-election this fall in states that Mr. Trump won in 2016 are also potentially still up for grabs. |
| Ms. Collins will watch the hearing from her hideaway office just off the Capitol rotunda. She’s told aides she will be glued to the screen | Ms. Collins will watch the hearing from her hideaway office just off the Capitol rotunda. She’s told aides she will be glued to the screen |
| Ms. Murkowski canceled a meeting of the committee she chairs to watch live. | Ms. Murkowski canceled a meeting of the committee she chairs to watch live. |
| Mr. Flake is the only swing vote on the Judiciary Committee. | Mr. Flake is the only swing vote on the Judiciary Committee. |
| Dr. Blasey’s testimony will also be of interest to the president. Though he cast doubt on her story at a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Trump told reporters that he would be watching the hearing and “could be persuaded” by Dr. Blasey. | Dr. Blasey’s testimony will also be of interest to the president. Though he cast doubt on her story at a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Trump told reporters that he would be watching the hearing and “could be persuaded” by Dr. Blasey. |
| “It’s possible I’ll hear that and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’m changing my mind,’” he said. “That is possible.” | “It’s possible I’ll hear that and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’m changing my mind,’” he said. “That is possible.” |
| Since Dr. Blasey’s account was published in The Washington Post almost two weeks ago, two other women have come forward and accused Judge Kavanaugh of drunkenly engaging in sexual misconduct at parties they attended. Democrats in particular are eager to press him on both cases. | Since Dr. Blasey’s account was published in The Washington Post almost two weeks ago, two other women have come forward and accused Judge Kavanaugh of drunkenly engaging in sexual misconduct at parties they attended. Democrats in particular are eager to press him on both cases. |
| Deborah Ramirez told The New Yorker that Mr. Kavanaugh exposed himself in front of her when they were both drunk at a party as undergraduates at Yale. She weighed in on Thursday morning. | |
| And on Wednesday, another woman, Julie Swetnick, came forward and said that in high school, she observed Judge Kavanaugh engaging in misconduct at parties where women were verbally abused, inappropriately touched, made “disoriented” with alcohol or drugs, and “gang raped.” The New York Times has not been able to independently corroborate either woman’s allegation. | |
| There were other, less detailed accusations shared with senators. For example, in an anonymous letter sent to Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado, a woman said her daughter witnessed Judge Kavanaugh drunkenly push her friend, a woman he was dating, up against a wall “very aggressively and sexually” after they left a bar one night in 1998. | There were other, less detailed accusations shared with senators. For example, in an anonymous letter sent to Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado, a woman said her daughter witnessed Judge Kavanaugh drunkenly push her friend, a woman he was dating, up against a wall “very aggressively and sexually” after they left a bar one night in 1998. |
| Neither Ms. Ramirez nor Ms. Swetnick will testify before the committee on Thursday. Staff members on the Senate Judiciary Committee have invited them to give a statement, though Republicans on the panel have declined to say whether they would support having another hearing to allow the other accusers to speak. | Neither Ms. Ramirez nor Ms. Swetnick will testify before the committee on Thursday. Staff members on the Senate Judiciary Committee have invited them to give a statement, though Republicans on the panel have declined to say whether they would support having another hearing to allow the other accusers to speak. |
| Clarence Thomas shocked the all-white Judiciary Committee in 1991 when he testified at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing that the accusations of sexual harassment raised by a law professor he once worked with, Anita Hill, amounted to a “high-tech lynching.” | Clarence Thomas shocked the all-white Judiciary Committee in 1991 when he testified at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing that the accusations of sexual harassment raised by a law professor he once worked with, Anita Hill, amounted to a “high-tech lynching.” |
| Judge Kavanaugh is expected to paint himself as the victim of “last-minute smears,” according to the prepared remarks he submitted to the committee on Wednesday, while issuing a broader warning about the danger of the allegations against him. | Judge Kavanaugh is expected to paint himself as the victim of “last-minute smears,” according to the prepared remarks he submitted to the committee on Wednesday, while issuing a broader warning about the danger of the allegations against him. |
| “Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country,” he will say, according to the prepared remarks. | “Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country,” he will say, according to the prepared remarks. |
| The treatment Ms. Hill received before the Judiciary Committee in 1991 — a profusion of abrasive questions from an all-male panel — prompted a cultural firestorm, with outraged women running for office in unprecedented numbers. | The treatment Ms. Hill received before the Judiciary Committee in 1991 — a profusion of abrasive questions from an all-male panel — prompted a cultural firestorm, with outraged women running for office in unprecedented numbers. |
| While there are many differences between the social and political climate in which Ms. Hill testified and the one in which Dr. Blasey will take the stand, there are still two Republicans on the committee who were there when Ms. Hill testified: Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the panel’s chairman, and Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah. (One current committee Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, also sat on the committee then.) | While there are many differences between the social and political climate in which Ms. Hill testified and the one in which Dr. Blasey will take the stand, there are still two Republicans on the committee who were there when Ms. Hill testified: Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the panel’s chairman, and Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah. (One current committee Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, also sat on the committee then.) |
| In an effort to avoid the optics of a majority-male panel grilling a female sexual assault victim, Senate Republicans have employed Ms. Mitchell to question both Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh. But some of the senators have made clear to reporters that they reserve the right to ask Dr. Blasey questions themselves. | In an effort to avoid the optics of a majority-male panel grilling a female sexual assault victim, Senate Republicans have employed Ms. Mitchell to question both Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh. But some of the senators have made clear to reporters that they reserve the right to ask Dr. Blasey questions themselves. |
| Some of the Republicans have already been blunt about their skepticism of Dr. Blasey’s allegations, with Mr. Hatch calling her “mixed up” and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina describing the claims as a “drive-by shooting.” | Some of the Republicans have already been blunt about their skepticism of Dr. Blasey’s allegations, with Mr. Hatch calling her “mixed up” and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina describing the claims as a “drive-by shooting.” |
| Senate Democrats are expected to question Judge Kavanaugh’s credibility, forcing the judge to defend his categorical denials about the accusations and to account for his drinking habits as a teenager and young adult, following news reports and public statements he has made indicating he could be a heavy drinker. | Senate Democrats are expected to question Judge Kavanaugh’s credibility, forcing the judge to defend his categorical denials about the accusations and to account for his drinking habits as a teenager and young adult, following news reports and public statements he has made indicating he could be a heavy drinker. |
| All of the women who have accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct said the episodes happened while he was intoxicated. | All of the women who have accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct said the episodes happened while he was intoxicated. |
| Judge Kavanaugh described himself in his high school yearbook as a member of the “100 Kegs or Bust” club, and his freshman college roommate told The New Yorker that he recalled that the judge was “frequently, incoherently drunk.” | Judge Kavanaugh described himself in his high school yearbook as a member of the “100 Kegs or Bust” club, and his freshman college roommate told The New Yorker that he recalled that the judge was “frequently, incoherently drunk.” |
| “I would be wanting to hear what kind of environment it was in high school,” Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, who sits on the committee, said on CNN on Sunday, before Ms. Ramirez came forward. “Apparently, there was a lot of drinking and partying going on.” | “I would be wanting to hear what kind of environment it was in high school,” Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, who sits on the committee, said on CNN on Sunday, before Ms. Ramirez came forward. “Apparently, there was a lot of drinking and partying going on.” |