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News > World

Accuser of Trump's Top Court Pick Kavanaugh Delivers 'Heroic' Testimony in Senate Hearing

  • Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., Sept. 27, 2018.

    Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., Sept. 27, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 September 2018
Opinion

Democrats lauded Ford's testimony as credible, brave, and, in the words of Senator Cory Booker, "nothing short of heroic."

A university professor Thursday said she felt 'comfortable' taking a polygraph test regarding her allegation that Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, sexually assaulted her 36 years ago.

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Addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee, Christine Blasey Ford said her attorneys raised the idea of a polygraph test in August, and that it was administered by a former FBI agent.

"I 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."

Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, recounted over four hours of testimony that a drunken Kavanaugh attacked her and tried to remove her clothing at a gathering of teenagers in Maryland when he was 17 years old and she was 15 in 1982.

The hearing, which has riveted Americans and intensified political polarization in the United States, occurred against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement calling out sexual harassment and assault.

Democrats lauded Ford's testimony as credible, brave, and, in the words of Senator Cory Booker, "nothing short of heroic."

"I believe history will show that you are a true profile in courage," Democratic Senator Kamala Harris said.

Ford was seated at a table in the packed hearing room flanked by her lawyers, facing a bench of senators. Cameras from news photographers clicked as she entered the room and took her seat, smiling nervously. Ford told the senators she was "terrified" to testify but felt it was her civic duty come forward. The audience at the hearing remained in rapt attention.

Some Democrats have called on Kavanaugh to withdraw in light of the allegations.

The controversy has unfolded just weeks ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections in which Democrats are trying to seize control of Congress from Republicans. Kavanaugh's confirmation would cement conservative control of the high court as Trump moves to shift it and the broader federal judiciary to the right.

Meanwhile, struggling to salvage his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Kavanaugh angrily and tearfully denied the university professor's accusation that he sexually assaulted her 36 years ago after she told a dramatic U.S. Senate hearing she was "100 percent certain" he did it.

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