By Aaron Miller-
Christine Ford, the woman accusing Brett Kavanagh of assaulting her, began her opening statement to the committee began with a heartfelt confession to jurors that she is terrified . Speaking, as her voice cracked with emotions, she said: ”I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. 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.”
Dr Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, choked back tears as she spent over our hours telling the committee how she was “100 percent” certain a drunken Kavanaugh attacked her at a house party as teenager when she was just 15 years old.
Her damaging allegation is worsened by other less but harmful allegations, like that made by Deborah Ramirez who says he exposed himself to her while at Yale, Julie Swetnick who says Kavanaugh was present when she was gang raped at a college party and a third woman who has accused him of sexual assault in an anonymous letter
“Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life. For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details,” Ford testified.
Ford claimed to have clear recollections of the house where the party was held, including “the stairwell, the living room, the bedroom.” Haunting her was the memory of two men sharing a laughter at her expense. She said said she remembered “the laughter, the uproarious laughter,” indelible in the hippocampus as well as “the multiple attempts to escape and the final ability to do so.”She recalled that there were at least four other individuals in the surburban home that night, adding that it was possible that Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanagh, helped him push her into the bedroom.
Haunting her is the memory of the two men sharing a laughter at her expense, she said. She made reference to symptoms of post-traumatic stress which were “multi-factorial,” and “biological predispositions” which could have intensified her symptoms, adding that she had never experienced anything as “striking” as the alleged assault that would contribute to the symptoms.
She claimed to have suffered death threats as she explained her decision to tell her story was to fulfill her duty to tell the truth about her experience. Kavanagh denies it all, but claiming he doesn’t recall any of it. When questioned by Mitchell, Kavanaugh said that he had never gotten drunk to the point of blacking out. He said he doesn’t recall ever drinking, falling asleep, then waking up in a different place from the one where he fell asleep.
Brett Kavanaugh
BEER
Kavanagh said he enjoyed beer in high school and still enjoys beer, but denies that he has ever been drunk to the point of blacking out. He said that he did not have sex in high school or for ‘many years’ thereafter. He said that he sometimes tried to hide this fact from his friends but was ‘inwardly proud’ of it. He denied ever being alone in a room with Mark Judge and Dr Ford. He also denied ever covering her mouth, trying to remove her clothes, or engaging in sexual conduct of any kind with her.
When quizzed by John Kennedy about the allegations, Kavanagh insisted they were untrue. ”I going to give you a last opportunity, in front of God , Kennedy said,- are Dr Ford’s allegations true?’
‘I’ve never done this. Never, done this to her or to anyone else,’ the nominee responded.
‘Are Ms Ramirez’s allegations about you true?’
‘It’s not true, it’s not true,’ he said.
‘Are Ms Swetnick’s allegations, made by Mr Avenatti about you, true?’
‘No. I’ve never met Ms Swetnick,’ Kavanaugh responded, referencing another letter signed by ’60 or so’ friends. Asked by Kamala Harris whether he was willing to ask the FBI to conduct an investigation, Kavanaugh said the FBI will have to garner witness statement, but you have witness statements.Harris indicated that she did not wish to discuss how the FBI conducted an investigation, saying, ”I’ll take that as a no”.
‘If a refuted allegation from 36 years ago is enough to destroy a person’s life and their career, then due process is not working in our country,’ he said. He concluded his opening statement by saying: ‘I am innocent of this charge.’