From the moment she was sworn in, Christine Blasey Ford’s strength and her vulnerability were both striking. “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,” she said. The terror was palpable in a quavering voice as she described the incident which “drastically altered” her life for the worse. Nonetheless, she fought through that terror to relive a harrowing story of violence in a moment of anguish she called her “civic duty.” Welcome to Rabbit Hole.
Credibility: In the days leading up to the hearing, critics of Ford and supporters of the Kavanaugh nomination cast her as a partisan torpedo aimed at sinking Republican hopes of gaining a Supreme Court majority. But time and again Ford appeared utterly guileless and divorced from the political process, testifying that she’d been unaware that she’d need a lawyer while coming forward and then unsure of how to find one. Under at times tough questioning, she wasn’t withholding or combative but rather obliging and forthcoming.
The most haunting exchange of the day came when Ford told the committee of her most vivid memory of the alleged assault. “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter from [Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge] and their having fun at my expense.” As she choked back tears, Ford described “two friends having a really good time with one another” in the midst of the horrific alleged attack that would haunt her for decades.
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Men interrupt: As is their wont, men interrupted. Republicans outsourced their questions for Ford to Rachel Mitchell, a Maricopa County prosecutor experienced in handling sexual assault cases, to avoid cringeworthy clips of 11 elderly men grilling a woman about a sex crime. Even with a surrogate woman pinch-hitting for the majority, Republicans still couldn’t help being insensitive as Sen. Chuck Grassley kept interrupting Ford as she tried to answer questions from Mitchell.
FBI MIA: Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee each used a piece of their time to criticize both Grassley and the president for not ordering an FBI investigation of the incident. Republican senators like Lindsey Graham fumed about the lack of details on the incident, saying “I don’t know where it happened. I don’t know when it happened.”
But it was Ford who offered the most detailed insight into how the FBI investigation Republicans have resisted could bring some of those facts to light. She recalled that she ran into Mark Judge at the Potomac Village some six to eight weeks after the alleged assault. “I said hello to him and his face was white and he was very uncomfortable saying hello back,” in an alleged acknowledgment of shame.
Re-victimization: In response to the threats against herself and her family, Ford revealed that she’s had to hire private security guards to protect her at her own expense. On top of the physical threats, she’s also been the victim of a cyberattack designed to undermine her credibility. “This past Tuesday evening, my work email account was hacked and messages were sent out supposedly recanting my description of the sexual assault,” she told the committee.
Media mess: Reporters did not emerge from Thursday’s hearing covered in glory. Ford recounted the media feeding frenzy that surrounded her as word of the allegations began to circulate among the press. She recalled how reporters, camped out in front of her house, spoke to her dog through her window in an attempt to quieten it, called associates, and even showed up at her class attempting to question her about an allegation she had explicitly asked remain private.
Blame the lawyers: While movement conservatives—and even Donald Trump, Jr.—have been more than happy to attack Ford personally, Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee opted not to go after her directly. Instead, they chose different targets: her lawyers and Senate Democrats. Mitchell spent much of her time trying to establish a chain of custody for Ford’s letter to Feinstein, who she spoke to about her allegations, and when. Mitchell also dug into whether she was aware of a committee offer to interview her at home in California rather than summoning her across the country for an anxiety-inducing flight.
It was a line of attack reiterated by Republican senators. “I regret that she finds herself in this circus-like setting because her letter to Sen. Feinstein was released to the press against her knowledge and without her authorization that she wasn't told by her lawyers that she could've been interviewed in a private setting," Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said after Ford’s testimony.
Lawyers retort: In response to Mitchell’s repeated questions about who was paying Ford’s legal fees and polygraph costs, attorney Michael Bromwich cut short the questions and said “Both [Ford’s] counsel are doing this pro bono. We have not been paid and we have no expectation of being paid.”
Mistaken identity: During questioning from Sen. Leahy, we learned that the victim of a bizarre effort to blame Ford’s alleged sexual assault on another man had sent a letter to the committee “forcefully rejecting” the idea that he’d attacked Ford.
Ed Whelan, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, mentioned the man in a lengthy Twitter diatribe claiming Ford had confused the man with Kavanaugh. Ford rejected the accusation. “The person that was blamed for the incident is actually the person who introduced [Kavanaugh and Judge] to me originally,” Ford said. “He was somebody, we’d say, I went out with. I wouldn’t say dated” and added that she would not name him because it was “unfair.”
Even though Ford said that she was “100 percent” certain Kavanaugh was her attacker, Mitchell still tried to nudge the mistaken attacker theory—as well as the man’s name—into the public record while questioning Ford about her relationship with the man.
Combative Brett: After Ford’s hours of testimony, Kavanaugh came out swinging from the beginning of his appearance. His face curdled into a scowl as he lashed out against Democrats and called the hearing “pent up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election” and “revenge on behalf of the Clintons,” in a partisan tone rarely heard from a member of the judiciary, let alone one seeking confirmation to the nation’s highest court. “You’ll never get me to quit,” he bellowed as he struck a defiant tone.
The Trump audience: Kavanaugh’s combative performance seemed to earn him the appreciation of the person who’d nominated him: Donald Trump. The president famous for always attacking—including the women who have accused him of sexual assault and misconduct—said Kavanaugh’s performance Thursday was “exactly why I nominated him.”
Emotion: Though Kavanaugh was full of fight with Senate Democrats, he steered clear of aiming his ire at Ford. At multiple points, he said neither he nor his family held any “ill will” toward her, and that he believed she had been the victim of a vicious assault—just not one perpetrated by him. The effort to downplay conflict with Ford also yielded Kavanaugh’s most emotional moment, as he broke down in tears quoting his young daughter suggesting that “We should pray for” Ford.
Calendars: Kavanaugh’s talking points for his substantive defense were similar to the ones previewed by Republican senators. He walked through a high school calendar—choking up as he described the practice copied from his father—and argued that the incident couldn’t have taken place because of the penchant for weekday jobs and the lack of available weekend days in his schedule. As Democrats on the committee hit him with tough questions, Kavanaugh repeatedly cast the fact that four witnesses don’t recall the gathering in question as dispositive.
Drinking: Kavanaugh was especially sensitive over the issue of his drinking and whether he drank to excess when questioned. “I drank beer with my friends. Sometimes I had too many beers.” he said. But further pressing on the subject lead him to lob sarcastic barbs at his questioners. Asked about his membership in “the ralph club” and whether it referred to vomiting while drunk, Kavanaugh spat, "I like beer, I don't know if you do. What do you like to drink?" back at Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. Kavanaugh later apologized for a second “I know you are but what am I” reply aimed at Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
#NotAllEditors: Democratic senators grilled Kavanaugh on his Georgetown Prep yearbook and the allegations that it included a number of references to sexist behavior and binge drinking—behaviors that critics say corroborates accusations against him by Ford. Kavanaugh seemed to sense that the yearbook was a sore point that made him look bad and told the committee that he’d “cringed” when reporters cast his self-professed membership in the “Renate club” as a profession of sexual conquest over an old friend. He blamed the frat house tone of the yearbook on others, saying “many of us went along to the point of absurdity” with yearbook editors trying to paint the school as something out of “Animal House, Caddyshack, and Fast Time at Ridgemont High.”
