Kavanaugh, Ford testify in Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

In testimony released beforehand, she said she was appearing only because she felt it was her duty, was frankly “terrified” and has been the target of vile harassment and even death threats.

A line had begun to form outside Capitol Hill hours ahead of the hearing that begins at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT).

Kavanaugh, like the two other cases against him, has denied the latest accusation against him as being “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone”.

According to the timeline, committee staff interviewed the first man who said he believes he attacked Ford on September 24.

Kavanaugh will deny all of the allegations but will tell the committee that he was “not perfect” in high school.

Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. supreme court is facing two new allegations of sexual misconduct, bringing the number of woman accusing him of inappropriate behaviour to five and threatening to completely derail his nomination process.

Initially anonymous, Dr Ford agreed to testify at a public hearing.

She went on to describe the alleged incident: “Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes”.

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.

“Today encompasses so many issues”, she wrote, “the extreme partisanship of politics, #metoo, raising boys, leadership, media coverage, sexual abuses that lie deep within our culture”. The committee’s all-male Republican roster will bring in Rachel Mitchell, a sex crime prosecutor from Arizona, to question Ford for them.

“The same way that I’m sure that I’m talking to you right now”, Ford replied. On Wednesday, Julie Swetnick became the third woman to come forward with accusations involving Kavanaugh. Their allegations will also likely be discussed at the hearing.

However, he added: “I know this particular man, Judge Kavanaugh”.

Shortly after, Judge Kavanaugh’s Yale university classmate Deborah Ramirez told the New Yorker he had exposed himself at a dormitory party.

While Republicans can advance Kavanaugh’s nomination without any Democratic support, because they only control the chamber 51-49, Kavanaugh’s supporters can only lose one GOP and still advance his nomination.