High drama in Senate as Kavanaugh-Ford hearing nears

At stake is President Donald Trump’s second nomination to the high court.

“When I look at what’s happened to the reputation of a great gentleman – a great intellect, a brilliant man, somebody that has a chance to be one of our great Supreme Court justices in history – intellectually, I think it’s a shame”, Trump said.

A third woman has accused Kavanaugh of aggressive sexual behavior in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh is expected to testify, along with his first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, before the Senate Judiciary Committee after 10 a.m. Thursday. But after more allegations have emerged, some GOP senators have allowed that much is riding on Kavanaugh’s performance.

Kavanaugh said he has never been on a boat in Newport.

Trump went on to note, despite his earlier statements, “I’m not saying they had to report it, because it’s a very personal thing”. “Brett and Mark (Judge) were visibly drunk”, she said. Since then a number of accusations have piled on, including that of a physical assault and several other sexual encounters.

While Republicans have suggested that the recent spate of allegations against Kavanaugh are politically motivated and created to prevent him from being confirmed to the Supreme Court, Democrats have said they favor an FBI investigation into the accusations before Kavanaugh can be confirmed – something which Republicans say is just a delay tactic. “It’s possible I’ll hear that, and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’m changing my mind'”.

The difference matters because a criminal proceeding would place the burden of proof on the accuser, “maybe even having to prove her claims beyond a reasonable doubt”, Somin said, while a job interview would obligate Kavanaugh to prove himself unsullied.

Jerry Hanafin, who conducted the polygraph test, told CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe that it was unlikely that in her response, Ford believed something that was not true, and passed the test because she believed it was true.

“I believed he was going to rape me”, she will say, according to her prepared testimony. The release includes a day-by-day view of the committee’s investigative work over the last two weeks since allegations surfaced targeting Kavanaugh.

“I drank beer with my friends, usually on weekends. This was what terrified me the most”.

Blasey Ford said she was finally able to escape and rushed out of the house with an “enormous sense of relief” that the teens did not follow her.

As Anita Hill did more two decades ago when she alleged sexual misconduct by Clarence Thomas, the mom of two testified before a committee with only male senators on the Republican side of the dais. And she described how she struggled with the trauma of it for years and first named Kavanaugh as her attacker during a couples counseling session in May 2012, detailing the incident to her therapist.

“During the incident, I was incapacitated without my consent and unable to fight off the boys raping me”.