Christine Blasey Ford, a Palo Alto University professor who teaches in a consortium with Stanford, has gone public with sexual misconduct accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, alleging in an interview that when they were in high school Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.
“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” the clinical psychology professor told The Washington Post about the 1982 episode. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”
Ford, now 51 and a resident of Palo Alto’s Greenmeadow neighborhood, said she was able to get away after Kavanaugh’s friend jumped on top of them and everyone tumbled.
Kavanaugh, now 53 and a federal appeals judge in Washington, has denied the allegation. He repeated that denial again today through the White House.
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” Kavanaugh said.
The Washington Post also reported that Ford has retained Washington, D.C., attorney Debra Katz, a Washington lawyer known for her work on sexual harassment cases. Katz arranged for a retired FBI agent to administer a polygraph test to Ford covering the allegations against Kavanaugh, and she passed.
Calls to delay Kavanaugh vote
Top Senate Democrats, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, immediately called for postponement of a Thursday vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm Kavanaugh to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy on the nation’s highest court. Republicans gave no indication yesterday that they would do so.
A spokesman for Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Judiciary committee’s Republican chairman, said Kavanaugh already went through several days of hearings and was investigated by the FBI. He said the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who was first notified of the allegation in late July, should have brought the matter to the panel earlier.
“It raises a lot of questions about Democrats’ tactics and motives,” said Taylor Foy, the spokesman.
The White House accused Feinstein, who revealed the existence of the letter late last week, of mounting an “11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation.” Both Democratic and Republican senators questioned her handling of the allegation.
Feinstein called on the FBI to investigate Ford’s story “before the Senate moves forward on this nominee.”
Ford’s emergence could complicate matters for the White House, especially as key Republican senators, including Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are under enormous pressure from outside groups who want them to oppose Kavanaugh on grounds that as a justice he could vote to undercut the Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion in the U.S.
Collins and Murkowski have not said how they will vote. Neither senator is on the Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to vote on a recommendation for the lifetime appointment.
Kavanaugh ‘stumbling drunk’
Ford said that Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” she says — corralled her into a bedroom during a house party in Maryland in the summer of 1982 when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh was around 17. She said Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it.
Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says. She escaped when Kavanaugh’s friend jumped on them and everyone tumbled, she says.
In the interview, Ford said she never revealed what had happened to her until 2012, when she and her husband sought couples therapy.
Portions of her therapist’s notes, which Ford provided to the Washington Post, do not mention Kavanaugh by name but say Ford reported being attacked by students “from an elitist boys’ school” who went on to become “highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.”
Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys, Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md., while Ford attended Holton-Arms School, also in Bethesda.
Ford’s husband, Russell Ford, also told the newspaper that his wife described during therapy being trapped in a room with two drunken boys and that one of them had pinned her to a bed, molested her and tried to prevent from screaming. He said he recalled his wife using Kavanaugh’s last name and expressing concern that Kavanaugh — then a federal judge — might someday be nominated to the Supreme Court.
Ford contacted Eshoo in July
The therapist’s notes say four boys were involved, but Ford says that was an error by the therapist. Ford says four boys were at the party, but only two boys were in the room at the time.
Ford had contacted The Washington Post through a tip line in early July after it had become clear that Kavanaugh was on President Trump’s shortlist to fill a vacancy but before the Republican president nominated him, the newspaper said.
Ford, a registered Democrat, contacted her representative in Congress, Democrat Ann Eshoo, around the same time. In late July, Ford sent a letter through Eshoo’s office to Feinstein. Feinstein said she notified federal investigators about the letter, and the FBI confirmed it has included the information in the letter in Kavanaugh’s background file, which all senators can read.
Sixty-five women who knew Kavanagh in high school defended him in another letter, circulated by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, as someone who “always treated women with decency and respect.”
Both Eshoo and Feinstein said today that they supported Ford’s decision to come forward.
She wanted to tell her own story
Ford told The Washington Post she changed her mind about coming forward after watching portions of her story come out without her permission. She said if anyone was going to tell her story, she wanted to be the one to tell it.
Sen. Feinstein said in a statement, “I support Mrs. Ford’s decision to share her story. And now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee.”
— From staff and wire reports
Thank you Christine for coming forward and telling your story. I think the polygraph test should end any “he said, she said” discussions about this ugly assault. I hope this ends the Kavanaugh nomination. Thank you for speaking truth to power.
just because her lawyer said she passed a lie detector test doesn’t mean she actually passed a lie detector test. don’t be so gullible…
We should have everyone participate and go through such test as the first screening and see what happened. There were supposed to be 4 boys at the party, 2 in and 2 out of the room. Now Brett said he was not at the party, we have a good chance to find them and verify in fact if he’s at the party or not.
Funny how all the streams where this ladies students claim she is hysterical and vindictive towards her students have been pulled from the internet. Kinda suspicious I think.
A polygraph test could easily be beaten by a psychology major student much more a psychology professor.
Why not just get the guy that jumped on him supposedly to get him off Of her to tell the story and even the other two guys that were at the party as I take it it was just for guys and her? That’s what I’ve read Dash but she stated that two guys took her into the room And it seems to me They would have to be complicit in the act , But then why would the second man jump on Camera now to get him off of her, that point I really don’t understand!?
Four guys at the party, unknown number of girls. And I don’t think he jumped on to get the attempted rapist off her so much as to join in the ‘fun’
They have all 3 have denied that it happened. No knowledge of it. In fact two guys have said it was them.
With your concept of justice, if you were in court you would not want a jury that thinks like you. You would be screwed. “This ugly assault?” You have more facts than anyone apparently. All we know is she was 15 drinking alcohol at a party and that’s about what she knows too –barely.
Besides, she has not come forward yet. Feinstein and Eshoo have used her and bullied her to come forward. They are politicians!
I wonder why a polygraph is being consider the end all here? If a polygraph is 100% accurate, why not save our courts money by using them instead of giving anyone a day in court? Just saying.
Are you aware how unreliable polygraph tests are? And that unless one knows the questions asked, in order, the remarks made, and much more they reveal nothing at all? That is why they are not admissible as evidence in court. A good psychologist can make them suggest anything. Don’t rely on polygraphs. Look at the rules of evidence.
a very sad incident …. shouldn’t be brushed off as ‘boys will be boys’ or a ‘youthful indescretion’ ….. this was nothing less than attempted rape.
Yes, I’m sure he’s guilty. let’s hang him.
your are an idiot, remember all the stupid things you did at 17
Joe – Did you rape anyone at 17? I didn’t
The woman said that it was not a rape. But you wish there was! Hypocrit!
I can see now why Trump nominated Kavanaugh. They were cut from the same mold.
Did the therapist put any ideas into her head? That’s happened before with children, when a therapist makes them believe they were molested by somebody.
The polygraph really cinches this. Kavanaugh should withdraw right now.
There is a reason polygraphs are not admissible in a court of law, they are not foolproof. So far this woman has made accusations and self-serving statements offering nothing in the way of proof to back them up. There are several stories reporting she told a friend she was promiscuous for several years. Is anything we are hearing or reading the truth?
She was probably trained by the Russians to beat the polygraph.
Promiscuity is not blanket consent.
You wish it had been a rape. It’s all poltical. No one has facts to determine anything. Innocent until proven guilty.
Hope you’re never in court with a jury that thinks the way you do. You’d be screwed.
Polygraphs are not admissible in court because sociopaths can easily pass them.
It’s amazing to me that Kavanaugh could reach to this level of the judicial system without this assault coming to light previously. If there are others who know about it, why didn’t they come forward previously? Why didn’t this professor reveal this attack when Kavanaugh was being confirmed by the Senate to the appeals court?
I remember another story much like this back in 1991 when Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual misconduct. I can see a plethora of holes in this story as well. Too many instances where the facts cannot be proven, but hey, it’s one of the great ones from the democrat play book. They never seem to get enough of being made fools of.
Oh, Ron. Do read some *real* news once in a while.
Why was a 15 year old girl at a small drunken party with 4 older boys??? Find the other boys and the family who owned the house. Personally I am sick and tired of victims waiting 40 years to come forward.
We should have everyone participate and go through such test as the first screening and see what happened. There were supposed to be 4 boys at the party, 2 in and 2 out of the room. Now Brett said he was not at the party, we have a good chance to find them and verify in fact if he’s at the party or not.
I bet you are sick of it. It’s so annoying when women stand up for themselves, isn’t it?
Feinstein and Eshoo used her for politcal gain to stop Kavanaugh. They don’t actually care about the woman, they leaked it to the press when the woman didn’t want to go forward. Do we dare even say they bullied her to come forward? It’s not just politics, it’s to ruin Kavanaugh. That’s the only reason — politics. Remember, they’re politicians!
Would a psychology professor know how to fool a lie detector Test? Who was the retired agent? When was the test taken? Why was it taken? Where are the results?
Yes, and why did she take the lie detector test if she was planning to remain anonymous? Many questions about the test, what were the questions, for all we know they could have been, “what is your Name”. We don’t know key details were asked and if they were, she supposedly does not remember! This entire story has way to many holes. If I had been attacked when I was 15 years old, I would remember every single detail, and I would have immediately told my Mom and my best friends. This story is not logical. The connection to George Soros is also very disturbing. Google that!
Wow 40 years ago. It was so traumatic for her that she didn’t tell anyone..not one sibling, friend or parent… give me a brake. Wow the Democrats found just the right person (they hope) she will have to withstand a lot from the public I hope they are paying her enough. Her life as she knows it is will never be the same. She was 15 and probably drinking at the party along with everyone else. This is nothing more than another witch hunt by the left.
Wow, as intelligent as you would like us to believe, the correct terminology would be “give me a break”.
A polygraph cannot be beaten by anyone, a psychotic sociopath because they believe the falsehoods they are telling are the truth. But, also, polygraph test are inadmissible in court because this a margin of error.
Yes they can be beaten. In fact with the right type of questioning a result can be predicted.
Unless you have been trained in the art, please do not make or state BS, about being unbeatable!
She did reveal in 2012 about the sexual assault. Also, many victims of sexual never reveal that they were assaulted due to either victim blaming or not being believed.
The fact that she “passed” a polygraph, to me, means she believes that what she is saying, really happened. Not that it necessarily happened.
The fact that she “passed” a polygraph, to me, means she believes that what she is saying, really happened. Not that it necessarily happened.
Something probably did happen to her. She admits that she was drinking
and she doesn’t know where it happened or when it happened. I would also
believe that she doesn’t know who. Why now? I think the answer is obvious.
So, how many women don’t remember sleeping with you, then?
I am happy to see that so many people see through this charade by the Democrats to derail a well-qualified judge like Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. It is also dishearting that Ford, who achieved academic success with a Master’s Degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology has failed to come to grips with her own life. I wish her well, and feel as if she has been prodded to make these preposterous allegations decades after the alleged offense. What took so long? She has no credibility with these charges.
Academic degrees are just preparations, but Dr. Blasey has had a very impressive research career after earning the degrees. Among other topics she studies the effects of PTSD on the brain and how to improve child coping mechanisms after trauma, but she is really an expert in statistical methods and human development. She was reluctant to go public, but now that she has, she actually has a lot of credibility. Are you basing that conclusion mainly on her being a registered Democrat? If the parties were reversed, I believe you’d want more answers.
So – Ron, I have you on the record as saying she is lying and “has failed to come to grips with her own life”. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J2T7HxgAAAAJ&hl=en
palo altans judging palo altans…so what’s new?
I think it would be a good idea to check what Ford’s parents did when she told them of almost being raped by Kavenaugh. As responsible parents I assume they went to the local police. What does the police record say?
It is iINCREDIABLE that she did not tell her parents and school authorities about the assault,…..Questions to ask yourself
1) is there a blueprint for what the law US considers as Sexual assault….2) was she as drunk as he was? How drunk was she. What did she do after the sexual assault? Did she tell her friends.? I
Her students consider her to be vindictive…..
What kind of questions were asked during the Poligraph Test.
Where were the OTHER girls at PARTY?
THIS WHOLE THING STINKS, SHE CAN REMEMEBER VIVIDLY THE ATTEMPTED RAPE, (IN GREAT DETAIL) ACCORDING TO HER OWN STORY.. THERE WERE ONLY 4 BOYS AND 2 GIRLS AT THIS PARTY. (WHOM DID SHE GO TO THE PARTY WITH) WHO INVITED HER? DID SHE JUST SHOW UP*** SHE DOES NOT KNOW THE YEAR, THE MONTH, THE DAY, ANY OTHER PARTY MEMBERS NAMES.. SHE DID NOT WANT TO COME FORWARD, BUT HIRED A LAWYER AND TOOK A POLYGRAPH FROM RETIRED FBI AGENT, WAS HE QUALIFIED TO GIVE TEST? WHO WAS HE? WHAT WERE HIS CREDENTIALS? SHE SPOKE TO HER COUNSELOR IN 2012 BUT EVEN HER NOTES DO NOT MATCH** THE FBI CANNOT INVESTEGATE THIS.. THERE ARE NO TRUE FACTS AND WHEN IT ALL COMES DONE TO TESTIMONY, SHE SAYS ONLY HER AND 2 BOYS IN ROOM LOCKED BY THEMSELVES… THEY BOTH SAY SHE LYING.. WAS SHE REALLY THE ONLY ONE DUNK????
Are you “dunk” right now? Your comment is unreadable.
I went to Holy Cross at the time (yes we were the lower middle class folks) who also lived in Bethesda/Potomac/Rockville area. I DO KNOW for a fact that things happened with many of us young people regarding parting at the time. And things happened that ended up in “situations” that turned into things that were regretted. But I also KNOW that everyone remembers the TIME/PLACE and PEOPLE who were involved especially if it was traumatic!. I am dismayed that the Democrats (especially Diane Feinstein)played this situation as a total political game as it has hurt two families. What is even worse is now if it did or did not happen the Senator has caused two families to be caused great pain and suffering! WHY did the Senator not DISCUSS THIS WITH THE NOMINIEE in the private meeting. She could and should have told him of this and the situation would have been dealt with in a much more FAIR and even maybe a BELIEVABLE manor! We are destroying our civility and the Nation is already in a state of strife. Senator Feinstein has made this much worse. I am saddened even more now as we are tearing each other apart. GROW UP all of us as our freedoms are now on the verge of destroying us. Weather Kavanaugh or Blassey Ford actually did have his encounter will never be truly known. BUT we will split our nation even more because of this action that SHOULD HAVE BEEN DELT WITH BY DIANE FIENSTIEN. How Sad
Beautiful, Trump nominates a SES career DC judge, that’s really tight with the Bushs, CFR friendly, who would be ready to go along with anything the established parties wanted to go with.
Now he has enemies, a grudge, a focus, and Trump can’t take unnecessary heat so sorry Mr. K.
Trump’s sister suggested a woman judge. Who was that? Was she the real pick?