Now underway, Judge Brett Kavanaugh and professor Christine Blasey Ford face questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
The stakes are high: a lifetime appointment to the swing seat on the Supreme Court. And with just 40 days until the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats and Republicans in Congress know that Americans will be watching.
In the time since Ford's story was made public, two other women have also come forward with allegations. Kavanaugh has swiftly and repeatedly denied the allegations.
Follow along with ABC News as the high stakes hearing unfolds.
The hearing is now back from recess, and first up to resume questioning is Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono.
The Hawaiian senator called the hearing “a moment for our country.”
Prior to the hearing, Hirono was a vocal critic of the Republican committee leadership for procedural decisions regarding Ford's claims.
“I would like to have us come together and figure out what is the best way to proceed,” she said. “Not this seat of the pants stuff, and the latest being a letter from the chairman to the Democrats saying we have done everything we can to contact her—that is such bullshit I can hardly stand it.”
Americans are watching.
Glued to their TVs, laptops and phone screens as the watch Ford’s testimony and the ongoing hearing, some Americans are watching on planes, some from classrooms, and others in conference rooms. Here is a look at audiences from across the country:
On the sidelines of the high stake hearing, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch opined on Ford credibility saying: “I don’t find her un-credible. I think she’s an attractive, Good witness.”
When pressed further by ABC News’ Ben Siegel, about what he means by “attractive,” he responded, “In other words, pleasing … she’s attractive, a nice person. I wish her well.”
His spokesman, Matt Whitlock later sought to clarify the remarks.
"Hatch uses 'attractive' to describe personalities, not appearances," he said. "If you search his past quotes you’ll see he’s used it consistently for years for men and women he believed has compelling personalities."
Earlier in the week, Hatch challenged Ford’s account telling CNN on Monday he believed she must be "mistaken" about Kavanaugh as the accuser.
The president might be keeping silent (at least publicly) on the ongoing hearing, but his son, Donald Trump Jr. took to Twitter to challenge Ford’s claim that she has a fear of flying.
This fear, she said, was why she was adverse to coming to Washington to testify.
Can’t do it to testify but for vacation, well it’s not a problem at all.
ABC News’ Mary Bruce caught up with a few senators in the halls of the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill, as they filed out of the hearing room one-by-one.
“Just in the last hour, three different women have reached out to me who I know from Delaware to share with me their stories of surviving sexual assault,” Sen. Coons said. “I've heard from other senators this is also happening to their offices and to them personally. So first, it is striking how many survivors of sexual assault are watching and are choosing this moment to come forward with their accounts. I think that speaks to what a public service is being done here by having a measured and respectful hearing of Dr. Ford's allegations.”
Sen. Klobuchar’s take on her GOP counterparts?
“I think that they look muted,” the Minnesota senator said. “They're sitting there, they look like they want to respond, but they made a decision not to really do their constitutional duty and participate in this hearing. That's their choice. What I think the big lesson that came out of this is that this woman is extraordinary. She's calm. She's honest. And I think that's what our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are seeing today.”
Sen. Blumenthal reaffirmed those sentiments, telling ABC News, “In my view, Dr. Blasey Ford has been highly believable, and there's a burden now on Judge Kavanaugh to rebut these serious and credible allegations.”
Among those watching history from inside the room are two students in uniform from Holton Arms — the same school that Ford attended at the time of the alleged incident, ABC News’ Tara Palmeri reports.
The two high school seniors have been rotating in and out of the hearing with one ticket. They wouldn’t make any political comments or talk about a culture of partying at Washington D.C.’s elite private schools but said they are there to support their alumna.
Before the committee recessed for lunch, as they entered hour three of the hearing, Mitchell, the counselor for Republicans on the committee, spent a full five minutes questioning with precision the validity of the polygraph test.
Here is the exchange:
Mitchell: "Why was that location chosen for the polygraph?"
Ford: "I had left my grandmother's funeral in Fort Lincoln cemetery that day and was on a tight schedule to get a plane to Manchester, New Hampshire. So he was willing to come to me, which was appreciated."
Mitchell: "So he administered a polygraph on the day you attended your grandmother's funeral?"
Ford: "Correct. Or it might have been the next day. I spent the night in the hotel. I don't remember the exact day."
Mitchell: "Have you ever had discussions with anyone besides your attorneys on how to take a polygraph?"
Ford: "Never."
Mitchell: "And I don't just mean countermeasures but I mean just any sort of tips or anything like that?"
Ford: "No. I was scared of the test itself but was comfortable that I could tell the information and the test would reveal whatever it was going to reveal. I didn't expect it to be as long as it was going to be so it was a little bit stressful."
Mitchell: "Have you ever given tips or advice to somebody who is looking to take a polygraph test?"
Ford: "Never."
Eight Republican senators have now yielded questioning to Mitchell.
Quoting an excerpt from a 2015 book written by his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who also sits on the committee, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, read to the hearing room: “Of his prosecutions of rape cases, I learned how much unexpected courage from a deep and hidden place it takes for a rape victim or sexually abused child to testify against their assailant. I learned how much courage from a deep and hidden place it takes for a rape victim or sexually abused child to testify against their assailant."
He called the hearing “a teaching moment” and praised Ford for her bravery in coming before the committee to publicly testify against her alleged assailant.
“You have given America an amazing teaching moment and you may have other moments in the classroom, but you have inspired and you have enlightened America,” he said. “You have inspired and given courage to women. You have inspired and enlightened men in America to listen respectfully to women survivors and men who have survived sexual attack, that is a profound public service regardless of what happens with this nomination.”
Like many sexual assault survivors, Ford described in exacting detail how the incident has impacted her throughout her life, especially during her first few years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“It's impacted me at different stages of the development of my life,” she said in response to a question from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware. “The immediate impact was probably the worst.
"I think I described earlier a fairly disastrous first two years of undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina," she said.
She added that once she was "finally able to pull myself together" and cope with the immediate impacts of short-term impacts she experienced "longer-term impacts of anxiety and relationship challenges.”
Coons then proceeded to ask for her response to a frequently used defense by her critics, “that this was a high school incident and boys will be boys.”
“I can only speak for how it has impacted me greatly for the last 36 years,” she said. “Even though I was 15 years old at the time. I think, you know, the younger you are when these things happen, it can possibly have worse impacts than ... when your brain is fully developed and you have better coping skills that you developed.”
After Sen. Klobuchar asked to submit Ford's polygraph test results to the record, Ford’s lawyer interjected to tell the committee chairman that the legal team proposed having the polygraph examiner testify, a request he rejected.
“We'll accept, without objection, what you have asked to include,” Grassley stated. “We're also requesting and expect the other materials I stated.”
Klobuchar noted, “Mr. Chairman, you wouldn't allow the underlying witness who performed the polygraph test to testify, nor would you allow mark judge to testify. So I would just like to point out, thank you for allowing the report in the record but that is the reason that we don't have the underlying information for you.”
“You got what you wanted and I think you would be satisfied,” Grassley said.
“I am satisfied,” Klobuchar replied.
A source close to Trump says they’re not sure this prosecutor is being effective as they hoped, according to ABC News' John Santucci.
The Republicans, still yielding to Mitchell, begin their questioning after the brief break about where the location of the gathering was relative to her house, and how Ford returned home after the alleged incident.
Displaying a map of the distance between her parent’s home and the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Mitchell asked: “We calculated the distance from the closest point to your house from a mile radius of the country club, and then the farthest point. You can see it's 6.2 and of course 8.2 miles. And you've described this as being near the country club, wherever this house was. Is that right?”
“I would describe it as somewhere between my house and the country club in that vicinity that's shown in your picture.”
After confirming that it would be “fair to say” that someone drove her to or from the party, as Mitchell put it, Ford admitted that no one came forward as the person who drove her.
Upon landing in Washington, press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that the president was watching Ford’s testimony.
She added that the president has not spoken to Kavanaugh today.
A close ally and friend of the president tells ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, "If you want her to be compelling, I guess it is."
Before gavelling for a 15-minute break, Grassley’s anger towards how Ford’s allegation was handled by Democrats was apparent.
“I cannot let it go by what you've heard me say so many times that between July 30th and September 13th there were 45 days this committee could have been investigating this situation and her privacy would have been protected,” he said.
When asked by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., “With what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?”
Ford responded: “100 percent.”
Christine Blasey Ford: "One hundred percent" https://t.co/x71KG2ubxb #KavanaughHearings pic.twitter.com/AHYWrae2on
Leaving the committee room, Grassley was asked if he finds Ford to be credible, he told reporters I know we need to “take her very seriously."
Later, he told @jparkABC that they will need to sleep on all this.https://t.co/28TCw7WTbz
We will resume after the break.
Two powerful moments emerged amid questioning from Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy.
Recalling the parallels from a hearing over two decades ago during then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing, Leahy said the Senate “failed” Anita Hill.
“Chairman, you and I were both here 27 years ago,” he said. “At that time the Senate failed Anita hill. I said I believed her, but I'm concerned that we're doing a lot less for these three women today. That's my personal view.”
“Now, Dr. Ford, no matter what happens with this hearing today, no matter what happens to this nomination, I know and I hear from my own state of Vermont, there are millions of victims and survivors out there who have been inspired by your courage … We owe you a debt of gratitude for that, doctor.”
Shortly after, Leahy asked her, “What is the strongest memory you have, the strongest memory of the incident, something that you cannot forget?”
A poignant moment arose as Ford responded: “The laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two, and they're having fun at my expense.”
“You never have forgotten that laughter,” he posed.
“They were laughing with each other,” she reiterated.
After coming forward, Ford contended with questions of the accuracy of her memory, and if this could be a case of mistaken identity.
When asked directly by Feinstein, “What you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity?"
Ford asserted: “Absolutely not.”
Sen. Feinstein in her questions to Ford asked the college professor to describe why she wanted to keep her claims out of the public sphere and initially and what prompted that change.
Her first question: “Why have you held it to yourself all these years?”
Followed by: "Can you tell us, is there any other way this has affected your life?"
“The primary impact was in the initial four years after the event,” Ford responded. “I struggled academically. I struggled very much in Chapel Hill and in college when I was 17 and went off to college, I had a very hard time, more so than others, forming new friendships, especially friendships with boys, and I had academic problems.”
The stage now belongs to former sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who is tasked with questioning Ford on behalf of the Republicans.
“I just wanted to tell you the first thing that struck me from your statement this morning was that you were terrified, and I just wanted to let you know I'm very sorry,” she began.
Her first question: “Are those three comments accurate?”
She’s referring to text messages sent on July 6 and July 10 over Whatsapp.
“Sexual assault victims should be able to decide for themselves when and whether their private experience is made public,” Ford said.
As she makes public the most traumatic moment of her life, you could hear a pin drop in the hearing room.
Senators – in particular, Republicans – are listening intently to Ford. Senators Ben Sasse and Mike Lee are pitched forward on the edge of their seats.
Sasse looks particularly emotional, with a furrowed brow and sometimes squinting.
Sen. Orrin Hatch visibly cringed when the heated details of the assault were recounted.
Sen. Jeff Flake is sitting backhand on chin - listening intently.
This isn’t your average hearing where members are doing other things. They are listening to every word.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar nodded her head when the awful details were recounted.
“Mr. Kavanaugh's confirmation was virtually certain, persons painted him as a champion of women's rights and empowerment,” Ford said, taking a brief pause before she continued. “And I believed that if I came forward, my single voice would be drowned out by a chorus of powerful supporters.”
ABC News’ Trish Turner reports from inside the hearing room.
For the first time, a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill, and the rest of the country heard Ford deliver the intimate details of the sexual assault she alleges Kavanaugh committed.
“I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me,” she began. “He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me. I yelled, hoping someone downstairs might hear me, and tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy. Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes.”
“I believed he was going to rape me,” Ford continued. “I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from yelling. This is what terrified me the most and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.”
“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 took the stand and began to lay out for lawmakers the world she came of age in: a bucolic suburban and upper middle-class Maryland setting.
"It is where I met Brett Kavanaugh", she said.
As she continued, her voice trembling, Ford continued: “I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t remember as much as I would like to. But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget. They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult.”
Invoking the rallying cry of the #MeToo movement, Feinstein offered a sharp rebuke of Grassley’s criticism of her handling of Ford’s sexual assault allegation, saying any reticence to push forward initially was “because [of] how women are treated in the United States.”
The ranking Democrat on the committee devoted a significant portion of her remarks to underscore the epidemic of sexual violence in this country.
“Sexual violence is a serious problem, and one that largely goes unseen,” she said.
“There's been a great deal of public discussion about the #MeToo movement today versus the year of the woman almost 27 years ago,” she continued. “But while young women are standing up and saying no more, our institutions have not progressed in how they treat women who come forward. Too often, women's memories and credibility come under assault. In essence, they are put on trial and forced to defend themselves and often revictimized in the process. ”
Grassley delivered his opening remarks, spending most of his time recounting the process that culminated in the hearing, criticizing Feinstein for her handling of the allegation of sexual assault by Ford “at the 11th hour.”
He apologized for the treatment Ford and Kavanaugh have both endured since the allegation emerged.
"Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have been through a terrible couple weeks," Grassley said in his opening remarks. "They and their families have received vile threats. What they have endured ought to be considered by all of us as unacceptable and a poor reflection on the state of civility in our democracy. So I want to apologize to you both for the way you've been treated."
“Now it's up to the Senate to assess their credibility,” he added. “Which brings us to this very time … The testimony we will hear today concerns allegations of sexual assault, very serious allegations. This is an incredibly complex and sensitive subject to discuss and it's not an easy one to discuss. That is why the senators on this side of the Diaz believe that an expert who has training in interviewing victims of sexual assault and investigating sexual assault allegations should be asking questions. This will be a stark contrast to the grandstanding and chaos that we saw from the other side during the previous four days in this hearing process.”
The hearing that could decide the fate of the Supreme Court is now underway.
Chairman Grassley opened the hearing with remarks, to be followed by ranking member Feinstein.
With all eyes on Kavanaugh and his accuser, their opening statements will begin shortly.
Alyssa Milano is sitting mid-hearing room, as the guest of Sen. Feinstein, according to the actress.
She tells ABC News she's traveled from Los Angeles to support Dr. Ford.
"I felt like I needed to be here to show my solidarity for Dr. Ford," she said. "On this day that will be very difficult for her."
She remembers when she was "almost 20" watching the Anita Hill hearings.
"I watched the hearings," she recounts. "I remember thinking what a strong, amazing, solid woman she was to come forward. What a service she was doing for all women."
She had "very active parents politically," she adds.
"We are in a different time. Women are standing together now in solidarity."
- ABC News' Trish Turner reports from inside the Dirksen hearing room.
The FiveThirtyEight team be watching the hearing today, of course.
We’ll also be keeping an eye on what is happening online, what other officials are saying and more. We’ll be looking at how all this affects Kavanaugh’s chances of confirmation, and how Kavanaugh’s confirmation fits into the broader cultural moment.
In short, there’s a lot going on. So to keep everything straight, here are some of the main things to watch for.
- Perry Bacon Jr., from ABC News' partner FiveThirtyEight, REPORTS.
"She's ready," Samantha Guerry said on "Good Morning America" Thursday of high school classmate Christine Blasey Ford, who’s scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"She's been spending time alone getting centered and clearing her thoughts but when she shows up today, she will be completely cooperative and ready to tell her truth," Guerry told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos.
- ABC News' Kendall Karson. For more, CLICK HERE.
It will be a showdown that could define a generation – in politics and well beyond.
When Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning, the issues probed and how the witnesses and their questioners come across could have lasting repercussions for all three branches of government.
At stake is a lifetime appointment to the swing seat on the Supreme Court.
The stakes are even broader for a nation that has grappled with a reassessment of the realities of sexual harassment over the past year.
READ MORE via ABC News' Rick Klein.
Ahead of her testimony Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ford has remained mostly a two-dimensional figure, defined mainly by her resume and her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school in the early 1980s.
As the country awaited the chance to hear from Ford herself, here's more of her background.
ABC News' Ali Rogin WRITES.
The highly anticipated hearing is the culmination of days-long debates in Washington and nationally about the implications of Christine Blasey Ford's accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both high schoolers in suburban Maryland.
The 21 committee members - 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats - are expected to press both Ford and Kavanaugh for details. Republicans are expected to yield their time to Rachel Mitchell, a prosecutor from Arizona, to question Ford.
Here's what you need to know about key members of the committee.
- ABC News' Max Hamid. For more, CLICK HERE.
Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, is a longtime judge on the federal appeals court often referred to as the second-highest court in the land.
Kavanaugh has served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals since 2006, three years after George W. Bush nominated him to the post. At 53, Kavanaugh, if confirmed, could reasonably expect to serve on the Supreme Court well into the middle of the century — no doubt an attractive prospect to President Trump, who intentionally targeted young candidates for the posting, sources told ABC News.
ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman REPORTS.
In his prepared opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a day before Thursday's expected dramatic showdown with one of his accusers, Brett Kavanaugh says "this effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out."
The Republican-controlled committee sent out Kavanaugh's statement as new allegations against Kavanaugh rocked the nation's capital and raised new questions about the fate of his nomination.
Read the entire statement HERE.
President Donald Trump again strongly defended his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Wednesday, rejecting any suggestion he order a new FBI investigation into the multiple sexual assault and misconduct allegations against him, including an explosive new allegation from a third accuser.
"Here there was nothing to investigate," Trump said in New York, at only his second solo news conference in the U.S. "They didn't know location, year. They didn't know anything," he said, apparently referring to the first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted him when they were both in high school. Kavanaugh has adamantly denied the accusation.
- ABC News' Meridith McGraw. For more, CLICK HERE.
On Thursday, Brett Kavanaugh and one of the women who accused him of sexual assault, Christine Blasey Ford, will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee just 24 hours before the committee is scheduled to vote on his nomination.
ABC’s Political Director Rick Klein and Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran sat down this week on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” to discuss the history and controversy surrounding Kavanaugh’s nomination and what it could mean for Republicans merely 41 days ahead of the midterms.
The attorney for the second woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct expressed his disapproval of how President Trump has mocked her account, adding that his client is certain about the alleged encounter.
"I found that comment by the president to be pretty disgusting and pretty hurtful," John Clune, attorney for accuser Deborah Ramirez, told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" Wednesday.
He added: "She believes wholeheartedly that it was Mr. Kavanaugh."
READ MORE via ABC News' Nataly Pak.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley reversed course just hours after he said he would not reveal the name of the prosecutor hired by the GOP to question the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of assault and released a statement saying Rachel Mitchell would be tasked with the job.
Mitchell, a career prosecutor from Maricopa County, Arizona, will be interviewing Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were high school students in suburban Maryland.
Kavanaugh has strenuously denied the claims, saying he was not even present at the party she alleges the assault took place.
ABC News' Mark Osborne WRITES.
While her party’s leaders are plowing ahead with their support for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the key swing votes, wants the sexual assault allegation to be taken seriously.
“It's very important to take allegations of those who have come forward, to take them seriously and I think we need to go into this hearing with the view that we will listen to Dr. Ford's story, we will listen to Judge Kavanaugh's response and then we will weigh what we have heard,” the Alaska Republican told a massive scrum of reporters. “I think it's important to have the hearing, to get this out on the record and then to move on from there.”
READ MORE via ABC News' Mary Bruce, Ali Rogin and Mariam Khan.
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace him on the nation's highest court was supposed to calm jittery Republican nerves about a disengaged base.
The worry: that Republican voters would stay home this November in what promises to be a critical midterm election that could see control of both the U.S. House and Senate slip from GOP control.
- ABC News' John Verhovek. For more, CLICK HERE.
Brett Kavanaugh, the president's embattled Supreme Court nominee, spoke out Monday in an extraordinary and emotional interview with Fox News, saying, "I've never sexually assaulted anyone" and insisting, "I'm not going anywhere."
The interview, which aired Monday evening, followed a day-long effort by President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans to save Kavanaugh's nomination after a second accuser's story surfaced in The New Yorker on Sunday. A former Yale University classmate, Deborah Ramirez, claims Kavanaugh exposed himself at a dorm party and "thrust his penis in her face."
READ MORE via ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett.
Comedians mocked Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Monday after he discussed his virginity and claimed a decades-old social calendar would help to exonerate him from sexual assault allegations.
“He claims he kept calendars detailing his social engagements from 1982 that will help to exonerate him,” Jimmy Kimmel said on “Live” Monday. “What 17-year-old keeps calendars of his social engagements? No wonder he was a virgin!”
Kavanaugh defended himself in an emotional interview on Monday after a second woman accused him of sexual misconduct over the weekend.
- ABC News' Karma Allen. For more, CLICK HERE.
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