Read Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh's Opening Remarks for Thursday's Hearing
On Thursday, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, will be questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee during a public hearing. Both are allowed to give opening remarks, which were made available on Wednesday.
In Dr. Ford's remarks, she writes, "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." She also goes on to say that while she does not remember every detail from the day Kavanaugh assaulted her, she does remember the details of the actual assault. She goes on describe the same incident she told the Washington Post when she first came forward: Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge pushed her into a room at a party, where Kavanaugh got on top of her, groped her, and put his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She was eventually able to escape and ran out of the house.
She also talked about the impact of the assault, writing, "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. I did not want to tell my parents that I, at age 15, was in a house without any parents present, drinking beer with boys. I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should be able to move on and just pretend that it had never happened... I had never told the details to anyone until May 2012, during a couples counseling session. The reason this came up in counseling is that my husband and I had completed an extensive remodel of our home, and I insisted on a second front door, an idea that he and others disagreed with and could not understand. In explaining why I wanted to have a second front door, I described the assault in detail."
Ford also described how she struggled to decide whether she should share her assault with the Senate: "As the hearing date got closer, I struggled with a terrible choice: Do I share the facts with the Senate and put myself and my family in the public spotlight? Or do I preserve our privacy and allow the Senate to make its decision on Mr. Kavanaugh’s nomination without knowing the full truth about his past behavior?" She reiterated that after her name was made public, her family has been the target of death threats and harassment.
You can read her full remarks here.
In Kavanaugh's opening remarks, he completely denies the accusation, as well as other accusations that have come to light in the last few days, including those from Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. He writes, "Over the past few days, other false and uncorroborated accusations have been aired. There has been a frenzy to come up with something-anything, no matter how far-fetched or odious-that will block a vote on my nomination. These are last-minute smears, pure and simple."
He also defends his actions in high school, saying that while he did drink, his actions never amounted to assault: "I spent most of my time in high school focused on academics, sports, church, and service. But I was not perfect in those days, just as I am not perfect today. I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends. Sometimes I had too many. In retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now. But that’s not why we are here today. What I’ve been accused of is far more serious that juvenile misbehavior. I never did anything remotely resembling what Dr. Ford describes."
You can read his full remarks here.
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