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RPBP 🏳️‍🌈 @rpbp
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** announcement **

It's 10 am, and I'll be here all day, live-tweeting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony then Brett's lies and every misogynistic moment in between.

In addition, there will be timely updates and thoughtful takes on our home page from colleagues @joanmccarter @kerryeleveld @Scout_Finch @wallein @HunterDK et al.
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is here, and she's wearing a cerulean power suit. She looks nervous, keeping her head down--when she finally turned, audible clicks take over the audio.
Chuck Grassley is up and thanking both Dr. Ford and Kavanaugh for volunteering to testify.

Oh, and we should be equally concerned for how terrible the last few weeks have been for both Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh.

Now Grassley's lecturing on civility, so.
Grassley's listing things about Brett Kavanaugh like this will fix everything.

He claims the FBI has completed YET ANOTHER VERY THOROUGH background check on Kavanaugh and there's "not a whiff" of sexual impropriety.

Then he refers to "the secret letter" and subtweets DiFi.
Grassley, who opened by urging civility, followed that with a series of misleading-bordering-on-lies type statements.

"Secret evidence." "Eleventh hour."

He continues to take shots at DiFi and claims it's *the press* that's mistreated Dr. Ford. Not Republicans.

When we got the letter and the allegations, we took them very seriously, just as we have in the past.

"The Democrats refused to participate in what should have been a bipartisan investigation."

Now he really is just lying.
Is Grassley emphasizing "knowingly" in "knowingly false statements" because he knows Kavanaugh lies compulsively?
Kavanaugh moves on to attacking Dr. Ford's credibility by citing how many people have not stepped forward to substantiate her allegations. Her attorneys didn't cooperate!

"I nevertheless ordered a public hearing." Magnanimous of you, Chuck.
"We conducted thorough investigations into allegations."

On to the FBI: "We saw no reason to re-open a closed investigation."

My ears are bleeding so I'm going to summarize:

"Contrary to what the public believe," the FBI has nothing to do with investigating things.
"Look! A woman assistant! Did I mention she is female and does sex crime things!? She's from Maricopa! Janet Napolitano says she's good! Rachel Mitchell, everybody!"…
More lies.

"We've been trying to investigate other allegations."

Chuck claims other attorneys aren't cooperating, though we've been incredibly fair and reasonable. They're not making clients available to interview!…
DiFi's responding to Grassley.

Yes, I did receive a letter from Dr. Ford....The next day, I called Dr. Ford. We spoke on the phone. She reiterated that she wanted this held confidential, and I held it confidential up to a point where the witness was willing to come forward."
"I think as I make my remarks you'll see why. How women are treated in the US regarding this type of allegation is really wanting a lot of reform."

"Before you get to your testimony, I think it's important you're properly introduced."
Grassley interrupts DiFi abruptly even for him to claim he was GOING to introduce Dr. Ford **just as he would anyone else.**

Don't even want to know how Grassley was going to introduce Dr. Ford, but DiFi does an excellent job. She says she's very impressed by Dr. Ford.
Yes, DiFi.

"Sexual violence is a serious problem and it goes unseen. It's estimated by the CDC that one in three women and one in six men will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime."
"According to RAINN, 60 percent of sexual assaults go unreported. When survivors do report, it's often years later due to trauma and thinking their stories will not be believed."
A constituent who was assaulted 43 years ago shared that experience with DiFi and said she'd never come forward before.

"[Women] are put on trial and forced to defend themselves and often revictimized in the process."
DiFi relates seeing the Anita Hill hearing in an airport.

"An attractive woman in a blue suit sitting before a committee of all men and having her credibility attacked."

History is repeating itself.
"Republicans scheduled a hearing without inviting took a public outcry for the majority to back down and give her even a few days....The Republicans also scheduled a hearing without having her allegations investigated by the FBI."
"In 1991 Anita Hill's allegations were investigated by the FBI, which is the normal process and squarely within their jurisdiction."
"The Republicans and Trump have refused to take this step for an impartial investigation....This would clearly be the best way to ensure a fair process for Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford."
DiFi hits the Republicans for refusing to call other witnesses, for refusing to subpoena Mark Judge, for refusing to bring anyone forward who can testify about evidence in these types of cases.
1991: "It won't make a bit of difference," Republicans said about Hill, and placed the burden of proof on her.

2018: "I'll listen to the lady, but we're going to bring this to a close."
Going back, here's how Dr. Ford's attorneys reacted when Grassley claimed he worked closely with them re: hearing.

DiFi is going through the allegations, including reading key parts of Julie Swetnick's declaration.

"All three [women] have said they have evidence and corroboration. Yet Rs continue to blindly push forward."
DiFi's impeaching Kavanaugh from the dais.

Shorter version:

Kavanaugh says he was focused on his studies and basketball. But here are all the people who have said Kavanaugh was a heavy drinker, and here are their exact words.
Rejecting the choir boy claims, one of Kavanaugh's acquaintances said, "You can't lie your way onto the Supreme's about the integrity of the institution."

That's what this **should** be about, DiFi says.

She urges the majority to get its shit together.
"This is not a trial of Dr. Ford, it's a job interview for Brett Kavanaugh....[I]s he the best we can do?"

Damn, DiFi. Get it.
Grassley **chides** DiFi for bringing up other allegations because they're there for the "sole purpose" of hearing Dr. Ford out.
Grassley is trying to be chivalrous by promising breaks whenever she wants, as long as she wants for her opening statement, etc.

He began by not actually addressing her, but talking about her.

He's nailed that combination of robotic and condescending.
Dr. Ford sounds confident.


Here's her full testimony.…
It's powerful that she calls him Brett. She's very effectively taking people back to her experience, how she knew him.
Emotional as she says she will never forget the assault. As she describes what happened. As she says, "I drank one beer."

Like only having one beer might have protected her. I know that feeling.
"He began running his hands over my body and grinding into me."

Her voice is close to breaking but she is soldiering on.

Her courage and pain have me in tears.
Mark sometimes urged Kavanaugh on, then sometimes told him to stop.

She made eye contact with Mark, thought he might help her.

"He did not."

Her terror is tangible.
She's emotional again, understandably, when she explains how her trauma was reignited.

"I recall saying that the boy who assaulted me could someday be on the U.S. Supreme Court."

Full. Stop.

In the moment she adds, "I did not know how to do that."
Dr. Ford is steady, and she is credible. She is relatable.

It shouldn't matter how she looks, how she speaks, or how she relays what happened to her, but of course it does before these 11 Republican men.

Now she's using our voice, and we must listen.
Relating how reporters harassed her and intruded on her life, she is emotional again.


This is not attention-seeking.
She's been doxxed.

Her parents have been doxxed.

She had to move.

She's been separated from her family.

Her email's been hacked, used to send false recantations.
"I am no one's pawn."

She looks up with a bit of fire in her eyes.
Oh, boy. Chuck is going to use his five minutes.

He's reminding his colleagues and Ms. Mitchell that he lets folks finish a question so long as they ask before their time's up.
Okay, no--that's what I thought.

Ms. Mitchell is using Chuck's five minutes.
"The first thing that struck me this morning from your statement is that you were terrified, and I'm very sorry. That's not right."

"I know this is stressful, so I'm going to set forth some guidelines...If I ask a question you don't understand, please ask me to clarify."
She'll refer back to what Dr. Ford has said. Let her know if she gets it wrong.

If she estimates, tell her that she's estimating.
Mitchell begins with a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with a Washington Post reporter.

"Are these comments accurate?"

"There's one correction. I've used 'bystander' as an adjective....'Bystander' means someone who was witnessing the assault....[PJ] was downstairs."
"Is the letter accurate?"

"I'll take a minute to read it. I can read fast."

Fist-pump for the fierce professor.
@kerryeleveld points out that Dr. Ford's taking notes in the margin.
CBF: "I have 3 areas I'd like to address" re the letter.

First: She can't guarantee there weren't more than four people at the party.

"Kavanaugh physically pushed me into the bedroom. I can't say that Mark Judge didn't help him with that."

Grassley interrupts because he doesn't like where this is going. Technically because of the time, but really because Ford's slaying.
DiFi is up, and she asks why Dr. Ford didn't come forward sooner.

"Well I didn't keep it all to myself. I brought it up in therapy which seemed an appropriate place to deal with the sequelae of the assault."

"Sequelae," damn.
Why didn't she come forward?

"Anxiety, phobia, and PTSD like symptoms."
DiFi asks, how did it affect her?

"The primary impact was in the initial four years after the event. When I went off to college I had a very hard time forming new friendships, more so than others, especially new friendships with boys."
"I was weighing the risk benefit of coming forward for me...wondering if I was just jumping in front of a train that was going to get where it was going anyway."
When did she come forward?

After reporters were talking to her dog through her window to calm him down.

A reporter came to one of her classes, came up to her after to ask a question. She thought she was a student. Turns out she was a reporter.
People were calling her Stanford colleagues.
"How were you sure that it was [Kavanaugh]?"

"Like I know that I'm talking to you right now."

She explains the role of epinephrine and norepinephrine in forming memories and is unshakable on her certainty that it was Kavanaugh.

She's so good.
Mitchell: "You had a third correction?"

"It wasn't a correction."
CBF wanted to provide more information about a third part. She'd seen Mark Judge after, at Safeway, so she thinks she could provide more information about the timeline.
"Have you told us everything you remember about the day leading up to [the assault]? You told us you were at the country club swimming pool."

"It's my best estimate." Based on her having gone every day.
"Had you had anything to drink."

"Not at all."

"Were you on any kind of medication?"


Yes, Mitchell went there. Next she'll ask what she was wearing.
"What was the atmosphere at the gathering?"

"Judge and Kavanaugh were extremely inebriated. They'd been drinking prior."

Prior to getting there or prior to CBF getting there?

Prior to getting there.
"I can sketch a floor plan. I can recall it was a sparsely furnished fairly modern living room. It was not really a party like the news has made it sound."

Again, so firm.
"It was a gathering that I assumed would lead to a party later on that those boys would attend."

"They tended to go to parties later at night than I was allowed."

Quietly damning.
Mitchell is asking about noise levels, presumably so she can later press CBF on why no one would have heard her or suspected anything if it was so quiet.
@SenatorLeahy: "The Senate failed Anita Hill....I believed her."

"Courage is contagious."

We owe you a debt of gratitude for coming forward, for the impact it will have on survivors around the country, Leahy says.
"How did you know Mark Judge and Brett Kavanugh? Could you have mistaken them for someone else?"

"No. The person [Rs claimed she could have mistaken for Brett Kavanaugh] is actually who introduced me to them."

She doesn't want to talk about him, because it's not about him.
"Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two. They're having fun at my expense."

She stops and looks down.

Hippocampus. Uproarious. Understated and unshakable.
Leahy follows up.

"You've never forgotten them laughing at you?"

"They were laughing with each other."

She goes on to add, "I was underneath one of them while they laughed, two friends having a really great time with one another."
Leahy finishes.

"Let me conclude with this. You do remember what happened?"

"I do. Very much."
Grassley tells her about a break.

She asks if that's good for him.

"I'm used to being collegial."

Oh, man, not going well for the Republicans.
Mitchell's clarifying who was there. One other girl, now Leland Keyser.

Mitchell doesn't feel it's necessary to go over what happened upstairs again.

I'm sure not.
"You said the music was solely coming from that room. Correct?"


"And it was turned up when you got into the room?"

"Did they ever turn the music down?"

She guesses so because she could hear them go downstairs from the bathroom.

Mitchell's prying: You say they had a conversation. How do you know?

She could hear them talking as they went down the stairwell. She assumed.
Twice, she's said, I knew I had to walk past them to leave the house.

It's incredibly powerful.
Mitchell's asking her to verify on a map where she was living at the time.

@SenKamalaHarris asks if they have copies of what they've given to CBF.


Harris points out they should have anything related to testimony before the questions are asked so they can follow.
Dr. Ford says, I can put checkmarks where I am sure of people there and a question mark if I am not sure.

Mitchell wasn't expecting that.

"I'm just asking where you were living at the time."
@SenatorDurbin is up and thanking her for her courage, the dialogue she's inspired.
@SenatorDurbin is up.

Rs are going to test her veracity & memory.

Kavanaugh claims, "I never had any physical or sexual encounter with Dr. Ford. I am not questioning that she may have been sexually assaulted" some other time by someone else.

He's going after their BS theory.
"Two men have come forward and said you could have mistaken them for Brett Kavanaugh....What degree of certainty do you have that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?"

"100 percent."
On the one time she saw Judge at Safeway:

"I was a teenager so I wanted to go in one door while my mother went in another. I went in the wrong door because that's where Mark Judge was arranging shopping carts."

Her memory is excellent.
"I said hello to him, and his face was white and he had trouble saying hello back. And we'd previously been friendly."

"He looked a bit ill."

That was six to eight weeks later.
Grassley leaps in to counter Durbin's criticism of the Rs.

"Between July 6 and September 13, there were 45 days this committee could have investigated and her privacy would have been protected."
Basically Grassley is saying that Dr. Ford's request for confidentiality meant nothing.

So, yeah: DiFi should have violated Dr. Ford's request for confidentiality unilaterally for the sake of these Republican men and the man they want to cram onto the Supreme Court.
The Republicans underestimate women routinely.

They made an enormous mistake in underestimating Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Look, it's not just me.
Caller on CSPAN.

"She's lying like a dog....There are holes in those statements you can drive a Mack truck through."

"Name one."

"She can't remember, can't remember, can't remember.

@SenGillibrand does a stand up.

"I think her testimony is incredibly heartfelt, deliberative, honest, and effective. I don't know how any of my Republican colleagues hearing her story could not believe her and could vote for Brett Kavanaugh."
"I think this set up is outrageous. That Republicans can't ask their own have a prosecutor asking questions, like she's on trial."

Yes, @SenGillibrand.
Another caller.

"I feel like she's very scripted, it's an can just tell she's lying."
Third caller.

"I'm a 76 year old woman and I was molested in the second grade."

She's almost in tears.

"You never forget what happens to you....I'm 76 years old and I thought I was over it and then [Dr. Ford came forward]."
@JeffMerkley does a quick standup to talk about his lawsuit against Trump, which everyone should read about.…
It's back to Mitchell, and she's got a blowup of a map.

It shows the property you pointed out, which tax records confirm was where you lived.

Now a bigger map.
We drew a 1-mile radius around the country club--

@SenKamalaHarris points out that the Dems again don't have the documents.

We calculated the nearest and farthest points from the country club.

Mitchell's going on the attack, trying to poke holes.
The party was near the club?

"I would describe it as somewhere between the country club and my home."

"Is it fair to say someone drove you somewhere?"


"Has anyone come forward and said, I drove you home?"

Now timeline questions.

"How were you able to narrow down the time frame?"

"I can't give the actual date, I wish I could be more helpful....If I knew when Mark Judge worked at Safeway..."

She must have been 15 because once she started driving, she liked to drive herself.
Mitchell's prying about the therapy records.

"You got them from a patient portal?"

She's wasting her time.
Now Mitchell's pressing Dr. Ford on her therapy records.

"Would it be fair to say that Brett Kavanaugh's name is not listed in those notes?"

She's pressing Dr. Ford on the error in the therapist's notes; Ford's not budging. Just calm and confident and clear.
@SenWhitehouse is up.

"You asked for an FBI investigation, right?"


"And you're aware that when the FBI investigates they may find corroborating or exculpatory evidence?"

Yes, she wanted an investigation and understood it could discredit her if she'd been lying.
Why did she want an FBI investigation? @SenWhitehouse asks.

"I feel I could be more helpful if that was the case in providing more details people are wanting to know about."
Whitehouse makes the point that it's Dr. Ford, common sense, and precedent against 13 men--including the 11 next to him.

"I will make a personal pledge to you here...I will do everything in my power to make sure your claims get a full investigation and not just this."
Grassley just talks over Kamala Harris when she points out that he's lying about the FBI involvement and that Bush ordered the investigation reopened in Anita Hill's case.
Mitchell is pressing her on the therapy notes yet again.

Once more, "Brett Kavanaugh's name is not in those notes?"

Still true. She doesn't even get a cheap point out of it.
She's pressing on Dr. Ford about her anxiety and PTSD.

"The etiology of anxiety and PTSD is multifactorial. That was a critical risk factor, as we call it in science, and a predictor...It doesn't meant there aren't other things that would make it worse or better."
"There are certain biological predispositions that people have. I can't rule out a biological predisposition to be an anxious person."

Her authenticity is indisputable. She's being herself, 100 percent. No effort to dumb down. Just calm, confident, and strong.
"How did you get to Washington?"

"In an airplane."

"I ask because it's been reported that ... you didn't want to fly."

"I was certainly trying to avoid getting on an airplane. I was able to get up the gumption with the help of some friends."
"When you were in the mid-Atlantic area in August how did you get here?"

"I flew."

"You have to fly frequently for work and hobbies, correct?"


Mitchell needs a longer format.
This is not paying off for Mitchell.

"You worked for a company in Australia?"

"I've never been to Australia. The company was based in Sydney."

She thought she'd been to Australia. That's a basic, unforced error.
Mitchell is listing all of the places that her resume says CBF has gone. Like maybe she was lying about not wanting to fly to D.C.?

Dr. Ford's not flustered. She just confirms while maintaining clearly that she doesn't like flying.

So strong.

"The attorneys asked if I was willing to take [the polygraph] and I said 'absolutely.' It was almost as nerve-wracking as getting on an airplane."
@amyklobuchar zeroes in on the Mark Judge-Safeway detail.

It would help if you knew when Mark worked at Safeway? (Since she saw him there 6-8 weeks after the assault.)

"I feel like I could be much more helpful if we could get that date through the IRS or employment records."
Klobuchar: "Can you tell us what you don't forget about that night?"

"The stairwell, the living room..the bed to the right in the bedroom...the bathroom in close proximity...the laughter, the uproarious laughter...the multiple attempts to escape and finally doing so."
Grassley claims he'd have been willing to go to CA, trying to correct her statement that she realized she'd have to go to D.C.

She doesn't bite. She just says, "thank you."
Klobuchar wants to admit the polygraph report. Grassley tries to object.

Dr. Ford's lawyer jumps in:

We wanted to have the polygraph examiner testify. If you had allowed it, you would have gotten the whole panoply. That's why it's just the report.
Grassley: Fine, admitted without objection, but we expect to have the rest of the materials.

Klobuchar: You'd have the rest of the records if you'd allowed him to testify.
Grassley to Klobuchar:

"You got what you wanted, and I'd think you'd be satisfied."

What a misogynist.
Mitchell: Had you contacted any other congressional staffers, POTUS, staff members before July 6? No? So, why did you contact the Washington Post?

"I knew the timeline was short."
"I felt like the best thing was to go the civic route...I also sent the anonymous tip to the Washington Post. Unfortunately neither of them got back to me before [Kavanaugh's name] was announced."
"Did you contact the NYT? Why not?"

"I wasn't interested in pursuing the media route...I felt one was enough, the Washington Post, and I was nervous doing that. My preference was my congressperson."
Dr. Ford then talked to the Washington Post's Emma Brown through the encrypted app and off the record.

All of which supports her not wanting to go public or forfeit her anonymity.
Until now I'd been fearing that Mitchell's working up to something big.

Starting to think this is just a square peg-round hole situation.
@ChrisCoons: "What is your response to...'boys will be boys'?"

"I can only speak to my experience."

She makes the point that experiencing that kind of trauma at a young age, while the brain is still developing, is particularly hard.
Mitchell missteps. Again.

Dr. Ford's lawyer steps in to object to the prosecutor asking a question about her conversations with her counsel.

"Had you retained counsel prior to the allegations?"

"No. I didn't see why I'd need a lawyer."

Again, she just comes across as straight-forward and calm.
Now Mitchell is asking her about her original letter and about her travel plans around that time.

Did she write the letter without help? Yes.

Mitchell is asking a lot of questions she doesn't know the answer to. That's the cardinal thing to avoid as a litigator, generally.
Mitchell is now prying into whether she talked to other people after writing the letter.

She's lost.
Dr. Ford wasn't talking to people.

She was staying with her parents, hiding it from them. The only people she was speaking to were the lawyers she was interviewing from the Walgreen's parking lot.

Mitchell keeps stumbling into things that just make Dr. Ford more relatable.
@SenBlumenthal is up. And he believes her.

"Not just because of prior consistent statements, polygraph, request for an FBI investigation, your urging this committee to interview others who could corroborate your story--you've been very honest about what you can remember."
"Someone composing a story can make it all come together in a seamless way," says Blumenthal.

"Someone who is honest--speaking from my experience as a prosecutor--is candid about what she can and cannot remember.
"The senators on the other side of the aisle have been silent. This is unprecedented in a confirmation hearing."

Now Blumenthal is quoting @LindseyGrahamSC's book where he talks about the courage it takes a rape victim to come forward. Zing.
Blumenthal goes back to her statement that information about Mark Judge's employment from that summer would help.

He asks Dr. Ford if she'd like Mark Judge to testify.

She says that would be her preference.
Mitchell keeps asking questions about legal advice she received and communications between her and her lawyer.

"I don't think you mean to do that," says Dr Ford's lawyer.

Excellent point from an excellent litigator on what Mitchell's getting wrong.
Mitchell is asking questions she doesn't know the answer to again.

Had CBF taken a poly before? Did she pick the examiner? Did she talk to someone about beating a polygraph? Have you ever given tips or advice to someone about taking a polygraph?

"Never" is the answer to all.
Dr. Ford recounts how traumatic the polygraph was. Describes it.

Mitchell just keeps asking whether she was being recorded.

The prosecutor from Arizona has yet to ruffle Dr. Ford or land a punch.
@NPRKelly points to a tweet from a "veteran D.C. sex crimes prosecutor.

So, so true.

It's lunch, so I'm taking a moment to interject a little levity.
Remember what I said about underestimating women?
Asked in the hallway about Kavanaugh's upcoming testimony, @amyklobuchar says, "We can't wait."

Smiles from the press.
So, this is powerful.
At a hearing over her sexual assault allegations, Hatch thinks Dr. Ford is present for his viewing pleasure.

That's how we got here.

Women are calling into CSPAN, crying, relating their own experiences.

Meanwhile, Republicans.
Graham didn't get the memo to shut up.
The rest of the Senate's Republicans seem to get that they've screwed up. Not that they're wrong--pigs aren't flying--but that they've erred.
If this is what @NRO is writing, this is the best they've got.
This is not a good look, even for the GOP.
Just when I thought Lindsey Graham couldn't top himself. (Nope, don't go there.)
Lindsey Graham can't stop himself. Then again, he believes men shouldn't have to.
It's a combination of lies and Republican stream of consciousness.
Thank God: @joanwalsh is on the mysterious case of Lindsey Graham losing his damn mind.

Actually, thank Joan.
It's @maziehirono, my heroine.

"This prosecutor, even though this is not a criminal proceeding, is asking Dr. Ford all sorts of questions about what happened before and after but not during the attack. [She] should know that survivors often do not remember [these things]."
"I think I know what she's trying to get at, so, Dr. Ford, is there a political motivation for your coming forward?"

"No, I reiterate, I was trying to get this information to you while there was a list of other equally qualified candidates."
The real question is character, Hirono says.

She believes our values do matter.

We know, Mazie. We know.
Mitchell's back.

"We were talking about the polygraph and you said you didn't believe it had been paid for yet--"

Debra Katz leans in, "Let me put an end to this--her lawyers paid for the polygraph."

Lawyer two leans in: "As is routine."

Katz echoes, "As is routine."
Mitchell wants to show some nefarious funding source.

Instead, she gets that Dr. Ford's somewhat disorganized *after relocating twice* and that while she knows that people have contributed to GoFundMe accounts for her family's security detail she doesn't know how to access it.
Poorly phrased prodding about whether someone could have spoken to a MOC or staff on CBF's behalf.

Katz: "You've asked her not to guess--now you're asking her what's possible?"

Mitchell: "Is that an objection? I'll let the chair rule on that."

Dr. Ford: "I don't understand."
This is Debra Katz, by the way.…
More questions Mitchell doesn't know the answer to that aren't working out in her favor.

"Did you provide a copy of the letter to anyone else?"


"Do you know how that letter became public?"

"Did you speak to the WaPo after the letter?"

"Well, they were continuously trying to get in touch with me, and I wasn't responding."

As would be the case if she didn't want to go public or go through this.

She only spoke tot hem after they started showing up at home and work.
BTW, it was @RSwirling whom Lindsey Graham dismissed by telling her to call the police about her sexual assault. If you don't know of her work on sexual harassment and against rape culture, you should.
Okay, I have a frustration with a D. They've been good, but rn I'm not sure that Booker is even going to ask a question.

A man's taking up space and speaking on sexual violence instead of asking the woman who's been through it and is present for that reason to speak.
Another aside: I do love how @maziehirono locked Grassley in. She got him to confirm he's ceding all of the Republicans' time to Mitchell.
Mitchell's fishing again. She wants to hear Dr. Ford say some slithery lefty organization directed her to her attorneys.

Nope, she talked to friends and family. Oh, and DiFi's staff.

So your attorneys here today were recommended by her office?

Just one of them.
Mitchell is now actively, if not purposefully, hurting the Rs' agenda.

"Would you submit to an interview with the FBI?"


"Would you be happy to submit to an interview with staff members from this committee?"

Mitchell goes back to trying to get Dr. Ford to name the man that Republican conspiracy theorists wanted to claim she'd mistaken for Kavanaugh.

She refuses; it would be unfair to him. Principled, firm, unflustered.…
Dr. Ford's giving a master class in direct, calm performance under pressure.

Mitchell keeps prying about the man Rs tried to pin the allegations on.

CBF finally says, "You know who I mean."

Not chidingly, just putting an end to her questioning, revealing it to be superfluous.
Mitchell wants to know if Dr. Ford was sexually assaulted at any other events.

"No, they were just parties."

Was Kavanaugh ever sexually inappropriate with Dr. Ford at any other point in time?

Another thing Republicans have done to themselves:

We see former prosecutor after former prosecutor on the Dem side drawing on relevant experience.

That's informed affirmation after informed affirmation of Dr. Ford's experience on camera.
"Did Leland Keyser ever follow up and ask you, 'What happened to you?'"

"She didn't know about the event. She was downstairs and not aware."
"You're aware that other people have said under penalty that they don't remember any such party?"



Because of course their not remembering has nothing to do with whether it happened.
Why *would* anyone else remember the party? She tried not to let anyone know what had happened.

"I don't expect that PJ and Leland would remember this party. It was an unremarkable evening....Nothing remarkable happened to them at the party."

That last sentence: heartbreaking.
Dr. Ford expects Mark Judge would remember.

What a neutral and polite way to describe her alleged assailant's evasion.
Rewinding a bit, when Mitchell was trying to shake Dr. Ford by saying Leland Keyser didn't remember a party, Dr. Ford mentions that Leland is dealing with health challenges, let her lawyer handle it, then texted Dr. Ford to apologize.

Republicans are floundering.
Reminder: Mark Judge refuses to testify.

Which is not what an innocent and/or patriotic person does.
Mitchell also tries to somehow pin the disaster that is this format on ... Dr. Ford?

There's no guile in it--Dr. Ford just really doesn't get what Mitchell is after.

"Yes, this is the format that this collegial group agreed on."
In closing, Grassley says

"Let's just be nice to -- her."

Grassley who's led myriad attacks on Dr. Ford.
Grassley who's inspired harassment, impugnment, and threats.
Grassley who's actively, openly tried to undermine her in every possible way.
Gillibrand would ask Kavanaugh about his record on drinking--"I'd go through every line in his yearbook."

"Why are you bragging about sexual conquests and drinking large amounts of alcohol?"

Let's hope Judiciary Dems do just that.
Cornyn just said, "I found no reason to find her not credible" on CBS.

Republicans better hope that Lindsey Graham stays quiet this afternoon because every time he's opened his mouth today flaming garbage has spilled out.
Republicans must really have done some serious investigating. Clearly, the FBI would have no value add here.

Reminder: Kavanaugh's nomination has huge implications for everyone even outside of this unbelievable proceeding.

As we wait for Kavanope, here you go: It's Donald Trump refusing to hug a child.…
Kavanaugh is up. Does he come in angry? Concerned?

Stay tuned.

Here's the CSPAN livestream, by the way.
Kavanaugh is basically shouting. He sounds mechanical. Also, not that bright.

This is *his* statement. He wrote it himself! No one has seen it except one of his law clerks.

All four people at the event* said they don't recall the event.

* She said four boys, not four people.
Only now does Kavanaugh say he'd welcome any kind of investigation.

Funny how he didn't say so earlier if he really did support an FBI investigation.
"Listen to the witnesses!"

Listen to them say what? That they don't remember the party at which Dr. Ford was assaulted?

She's already said she did her best to conceal what had occurred.
Kavanaugh claims "advice and consent" has been turned into "search and destroy."

This hollow, politicized rhetoric, coming from the top of his lungs, is not the antidote to Dr. Ford's calm, direct testimony.
What I have learned from Kavanaugh's statement that he wrote himself is that he is not a very good writer--not for a political hack, not for a lawyer, not for a judge.
BTW, this statement is a more accurate reflection of his writing skill than his opinions. Most judges have clerks draft opinions. They just don't admit as much.

The CA1 judge I clerked for said we could say that we'd drafted opinions for him bc everyone knows that's the deal.
Kavanaugh: "You may defeat me, but I'll never quit."

This is not a jurist's rhetoric, not the statement of an independent person capable of deciding cases impartially and without political influence.
@iamfaithgardner: "Kavanaugh sounds like Trump if Trump knew words longer than one syllable."
"This onslaught of last minute allegations does not ring true."

Says the man against whom allegations have been leveled.
Republicans are sticking with the she's-mixed-up-and-maybe-it-was-that-other-guy theory.

"I'm not questioning that Dr Ford may have been assaulted by some person at some place at some time."
He said that when he was praying with his daughter, Eliza, before bed, she said, "We should pray for the woman."

Jesus. Take a minute.
Kavanaugh is crying because of how unfair this has been to him.

Don't talk to me about how women are so emotional.

Christine Blasey Ford held it together while talking about the worst night of her life. He couldn't make it five minutes.
Sir, talking about clerking on the Supreme Court and traveling around the world with George W. Bush is not responsive to the charge that you have sexually assaulted women.

It is, however, evidence of what a deeply partisan creature you are.
Kavanaugh is now just listing the number of meetings he's taken, just as Grassley & co. just kept listing how many pages of his record they'd released when the issue was all the pages they were hiding.
I hope that Dr. Ford is not listening.

I hope she's enjoying a stiff whiskey on a plane back to California.

I hope she's surrounded by people who love her.
@Devilstower combines two Getty images to prove a picture is indeed worth at least a thousand words. Or, for Grassley, a thousand pages.
Solid theory w/r/t Kavanaugh's shouted delivery.

Kavanaugh is in tears again.

I'm not someone who believes that tears show weakness.

That said, don't @ me ever again about how women are too emotional for, say, the presidency. Or anything else.

@Meteor_Blades: "Judge: Let me introduce you to George Lakoff. Don't repeat the allegations."
Kavanaugh appears to be using his opening statement to review every day of every summer of every year in the 1980s.

Also, going to church is like brushing his teeth.

Definitely wrote it himself. Definitely shouldn't be writing Supreme Court opinions. Or any opinions.
"The calendars are obviously not dispositive on their own."

Or at all, Brett. You are a lawyer, right?

That we went to the same law school is a source of unending shame.
Tears for a third time as he's listing women's first names, meant to illustrate how many female friends he had.

Just like he listed the names of his basketball players.

Just like he listed the first names of women at a party he went to to prove...?
Brett admits sometimes he drank too much beer.

But so did other people sometimes!

But he never drank beer to the point of blacking out!

Kavanaugh conflates being accused of drinking too much with being accused of sexual assault.

Like it's (a) the same thing and (b) what's going on here.
Kavanaugh is doubling down on things that can be disproven rather easily.…
Kavanaugh: The yearbook is everyone else's fault and let me list movies from my adolescence that normalize our horrific behavior.

He's still trying to sell "Renate Alumnus" as a term of affection.…
Brett Kavanaugh cries as he says Renate Dolphin is a great woman.

As he fucking should.
He's still in tears/in tears again as he describes the "awesome women" who put their names on a letter before they knew he'd been accused of sexual assault.

How about some tears for the woman who came forward to testify on national television about being sexually assaulted?
Another recurring theme: Things people say to me about me.

He's now literally reading text messages from women.

It's The Onion. Except you couldn't make this up.
"Middle Aged Man Accused of Sexual Assault in 1980s Tearfully Reads Text Messages He Received from Women this Week"
Yes, he's still just talking about things other people have said about him. So far, he's hidden behind his credentials, record-keeping, and friends.

Christine Blasey Ford didn't do any of those things.
Kavanaugh did say that the law clerks of federal appellate judges are the best and brightest.

Any urge to be complimented's easily overcome by reality: Men like Brett also clerk for federal judges.

Hyper-privileged white men whose path to those jobs was inherited, not made.
Brett's now talking about how he's awesome because he has hired so many lady clerks.

He's ALREADY hired his law clerks for the Supreme Court. They're all women--it would be a historic first.

Okay--can we go back to how you feel entitled to that seat without confirmation?
"After what's been unleashed, I may never be able to teach again."

You could absolutely teach again so long as you submit to an investigation that exonerates you.

Is he conceding that's not going to happen?
If a refuted allegation from 36 years ago is enough to destroy a person's reputation and career, we will have abandoned due process, etc.

Mere refutation is inadequate. That's literally why the justice system exists. The justice system you won't submit to.
Let's see if Rachel Mitchell, sex crimes prosecutor, questioning Kavanaugh backfires as badly as her questioning of Christine Blasey Ford.

Given that he's already cried ~3 times, I'm guessing he's not going to hold up well even if Mitchell takes it really easy on him.
To the extent that Kavanaugh's been speaking to Trump, he's failing. This isn't the kind of performance that will win him over.
Mitchell reminds him that rubbing genitals on someone whether sexual or not is a sex crime.

Hearing what he's accused of again reinforces the sense of gravity.
Mitchell asks Kavanaugh about Mark Judge and he's responding in fits and spurts with a few words or sometimes just an adjective at a time.

He also knows more about Judge than a casual acquaintance would, i.e., he's been near death multiple times.
DiFi: All three women who have accused you of sexual assault have requested an FBI investigation.

If you're confident of your position, why wouldn't you also want the FBI to investigate these claims?

Kavanaugh: I'll do whatever the committee wants.
Kavanaugh's trying on indignant.

He's shouting about how cable news is claiming he's in a gang, on a boat in RI.

DiFi doesn't waver.

"It seems to me when these allegations came forward you would want the FBI to investigate these claims and clear it up once and for all."
DiFi: "I'm talking about getting the evidence and having the evidence looked at...the FBI isn't interviewing [the witnesses] and getting all the facts."

He actually shouts at DiFi: "You're doing it, senator! You're interviewing me!"
"That Swetnick thing is a JOKE! It's a FARCE!"

DiFi: "Would you like to say more about it?"

Kavanaugh spits out "no" and leans back with a spectacularly petulant expression on his face.
Mitchell asks him about his drinking habits.

He just repeats himself.

"We like beer! We drank beer!"

"What do you consider to be too many beers?"

"I don't know, whatever the chart says--the blood alcohol level chart."
"Have you ever passed out from drinking?"

"Well I've gone to sleep but I haven't blacked out--that's, that's the allegation--that's wrong!"
"Do you remember ever waking up in a different place than you went to sleep?"

"Do you remember your clothes being in a different condition?"

Stuttered and unconvincing nos to both.
Two versions of "Has anyone told you about something you did in their presence you don't remember?"

"No, we drank beer, like a lot of people....we still do."

He keeps going to "We drank beer, I like beer, I still drink beer."

Seriously, he's repeated this multiple times.
Mitchell goes in for detailed questions about the various elements of Dr. Ford's allegation.

Now Kavanaugh's giving a firm no to each, because these are questions he was expecting.

It's much easier to lie when no thought is required to process the question.
It also strikes me that if he's convinced himself that he's innocent, it's entirely consistent that he firmly answers "no" to everything he's convinced himself of but struggles when asked about questions around general habits and behaviors that support her account.
Kavanaugh's already asked for a break.

Brett's morphed from weepy into smarmy, replying to a question about whether he's changed the calendar and why he kept it with his father having kept *even older* calendars--from 1978!

"He's a good role model," chased with a smirky smile.
@SusanGDailyKos: "If he can't deny allegations without rage and tears, he's temperamentally unfit for the job."…
Here's the clip of Kavanaugh losing it at DiFi as he talks about Julie Swetnick.
In the break, another reminder: This is a huge deal.
Oh, and more White House reacts. Which are important because that's where Kavanaugh's real audience is.
Shorter Republicans: Being called a rapist is worse than being raped.

Sort of like how being called a racist is worse than being the target of racism.
Kavanaugh so far: belligerent, petulant, and hyper-political.

Here's the contrast.
We're back, and it's @SenatorLeahy.

"Unfortunately, the FBI has never interviewed [Mark Judge]....The chairman refuses to call him."

He's building up to something. He's so good.
Leahy: "If she says he was in the room then, he should be in the room today."

"Would you want him called as a witness?"

Kavanaugh keeps interrupting Leahy w/ how this should go, claims against Dems, indignation.

Leahy smacks him down: "I've been on this committee 40 years."

"Would you want [Mark Judge] called as a witness?"

Kavanaugh starts wriggling. He's trying to go back to his political TPs.
"Mark Judge wrote a memoir, "Wasted," in which a Bart Kavanaugh barfs on a car during Beach Week. Is that you?"

Kavanaugh cannot answer a question organically. We saw this during the original hearing: He just repeats the same snippets.
Kavanaugh keeps going on the offensive with Leahy.

Example: Out of nowhere, he accuses Leahy of mocking Judge, a man with an addiction.

"I'm trying to get a straight answer under oath. Was that you?"

"You'd have to ask him."

That's a stunningly bad answer.
Thing Kavanaugh actually said: "Let me take a step back and explain high school."

Literally interrupting Leahy and shouting "no" at him when Leahy tries to get back to the question and press him to answer
Grassley knows they're in trouble.

He steps in again to say Kavanaugh gets to finish with his non-responsive stream of consciousness re: high school.
"Does this yearbook reflect your focus on academics and respect for women?"

"Yes or no, you don't have to filibuster."

Grassley intervenes so there's no yes or no.

Kavanaugh repeats parts of his opening statement.
"If we want to sit here and judge whether someone should be a Supreme Court nominee based on a single page in a yearbook, that's a new low."

But sending teenagers of color to jail for life for what they do as teenagers is fine.
@SenatorLeahy, God bless, ends this way:

"We got a filibuster but not a single answer."
Mitchell: "Have you ever been accused, formally or informally, of sexual impropriety?" (To summarize.)

He gives a flat 'no.' Which is another thing that is very easy to disprove if not true.
@SenatorDurbin is on deck.

"Under oath, she said clearly and unequivocally that she was the victim of sexual assault at your hands. She answered our questions directly and she didn't flinch at the prospect of...FBI investigation."
"You have clearly & unequivocally denied you assaulted Dr. Ford...You must believe there's no credible evidence or witness that can prove otherwise....In the course of your opening, "you said, 'I welcome any kind of investigation.'"

So, money --> mouth, Durbin suggests.
"I have a suggestion for you--turn around to the front row, to your left, to Don McGahn and ask him to have President Trump order an investigation....I'm sure the Chairman at that point will understand that is a responsible request."
"You spent five years in the White House and you relied on the FBI's work."

Where he's going: So, ask for an FBI investigation.

Grassley interjects to stop the clock.

Grassley is losing it; Durbin isn't.

"Regardless of what you say to McGahn, we are not suspending this hearing!"

"If you, Judge, turn to Don McGahn and say for the sake of my reputation...I want an FBI investigation....I can't think the committee wouldn't support that."
"I want to know what you want to do"
"I'm telling the truth."
"I want to know what you want to do"
"I'm innocent!"
"You can't have it both said you welcome any invesitgation."
Kavanaugh starts saying that FBI investigators don't reach conclusions.

No, but they find and produce evidence.

"Judge, will you support an investigation right now?"

"I will do whatever the committee wants."
"Personally, do you think it's the best thing for us to do?"

Kavanaugh folds his hands and smirks.

"You're not going to answer?" Durbin's incredulous.

Even for Kavanaugh, wow.
Lindsey Graham can't resist taking the floor.

He. Is. Losing. It.

Finger pointing. Hand waving. Yelling at Democrats.

"You want to keep this seat open and pray you win in 2020."

Jesus, that DOES sound sketchy. Who'd do that?
"This is the most unethical sham since I've been in politics!! If you really wanted to know the truth you sure as hell wouldn't have done what you done to this guy."

There's no way to capture just how crazed Graham is. Wait for the clip.
"Are you a gang rapist?"


Glad we settled that.
Graham: "This isn't a job interview! This is hell!"

"This crap!" In reference to his yearbook being reviewed in relation to Kavanaugh's candidacy.
Here's his nastiest jab, the most revealing:

"You should be proud you raised a daughter to pray for a woman like Dr. Ford."
Now he's shouting at the Republicans.

"To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you'll be contributing to the most despicable thing I've ever seen in politics."

This is what fear looks like.
@SenWhitehouse: "Should we let things settle after that?"

The contrast is startling.
Whitehouse asks about the "Ralph Club" reference in his yearbook.

Kavanaugh starts babbling about how he has a weak stomach, that's why he was asked about ketchup on spaghetti, blah blah.

Another filibuster, as Leahy would say.
"So [Ralph Club] is a reference to your weak stomach?"

"Sir, I was number one in my class...I got into Yale."

None of that's responsive.
Whitehouse is unshaken.

Did "ralph" relate to alcohol?

"I like beer! I don't know if you like beer! What do you like to drink!?!"
"What's this "Renate Alumnius" line about?"

Kavanaugh just refers to his opening statement, goes off on the media and Dems, and reiterates he's really sorry about what everyone else has done to Renate Dolphin.
Whitehouse goes to the next line.

"Devil's Triangle?"

"Drinking game."

"How's it played?"

"Three glasses in a triangle."

Fluid like he played yesterday.
Another line, another inane explanation that he tries to take far too long to deliver.

"Do you want any more on 'the Fs"?"


Kavanaugh is trying to be funny/cute.

It would not surprise me if he'd had some liquid courage.
Cornyn, like Graham, takes his own time to lambast the Democrats.

It's worse than the McCarthy hearings, he says.

He's a lot calmer than Graham, but it's the same playbook.
"Judge Kavanaugh, do not give up. The American people are listening to this, and they'll make their decision, and I think you'll come out on the right side of this."

Not so, Cornyn, not so.
"This is not a job interview. You have been accused of a crime. If you have lied...that's a crime in itself, correct?"

"Correct," says a suddenly somber Kavanaugh.

"So we'd have to conclude you're a serial liar."
Cornyn, like Graham and Grassley, wants to talk about how the DEMOCRATS are the ones who've perpetrated a travesty and been unfair.
Cornyn bingo:

"Stormy Daniels' lawyer"

"even the New York Times"

"McCarthy hearings"



"burden of proof"


"36 years ago"
Also Cornyn:

"I appreciate what you said about Dr. Ford that perhaps she's had an incident at some point...and you're sympathetic to that but your reputation is on the line and I hope people understand the gravity of the charges against you" and how much it affects poor Brett.
Klobuchar: Why don't you just ask POTUS to reopen the investigation?

Kavanaugh, again: You're doing the investigation!

Also, I ❤️ you, Amy.

Because complimenting a lady senator means he didn't assault any women ever.
Klobuchar asks was Bush's decision to open up the investigation so the FBI could answer questions [in re Anita Hill] reasonable?

He says he's here now to talk about high school and sports and his yearbook and whatever.

Which, come on.
Klobuchar: My father is an alcoholic, he's still in AA at age 90.

You've said you've never blacked out, but your roommate and a ton of other people have said you did drink heavily.
Kavanaugh just starts going off on tangents.

Whatever Kavanaugh told the committee about his freshman year roommates that's supposed to discredit them, he's not willing to say it publicly.

Which is fishy AF.
Klobuchar asks again if Kavanaugh's blacked out.

Kavanaugh turns the question on Klobuchar and demands, "have you?"

Her face is amazing.

He does it again.

"Have YOU ever blacked out?"

This is a nominee questioning a U.S. senator.

"I don't have a drinking problem, Judge."
Shorter Grassley: The FBI doesn't reach conclusions! We haven't asked the FBI for anything!

@SenWhitehouse: "Actually, I have...we have."

Also: "The FBI does find incriminating or exculpatory evidence."
"This is the first background investigation in the history of background investigations that wasn't reopened after credible derogatory information...came to light."

Grassley: The FBI sent a letter to the White House saying the investigation was closed! 15-minute break!
Another reason I wonder about why Kavanaugh doesn't want to say anything about not getting along with his roommates publicly.…
Somehow I'd missed what "FFFFF" actually means. Kavanaugh claimed it was a reference to a friend starting to say "fuck" and saying "fffff."

There are a few variations, but here you go, any who like me either erased it from memory or missed it.….
Sorry, one more rewind: Kavanaugh's "devil's triangle" mention's probably a reference to two men having sex with one woman.

Maybe I've missed some of these references because I'm gay.

Women don't treat one another the way men treat women.…
The Democrats could also have been a lot clearer about why they were asking.

Mitchell had no problem asking Kavanaugh about waving his penis in Deborah Ramirez's face.

When you're dealing with sexual assault, clarity takes precedence over nicety.
Kavanaugh would have lied, but it's not like there's not plenty of evidence that he'd have been lying.
Oh, and in case you were wondering about that Graham-Cornyn tag team.
As Kavanaugh settles back in, a quick note on his demeanor.
Kavanaugh began by apologizing to @amyklobuchar.

He absolutely owed her an apology.

More to the point, even the misogynist Republican men surrounding Kavanaugh had to have recognized how bad that exchange was for Kavanaugh to apologize.
Klobuchar took the opening created by Kavanaugh's apology to ding him for an insensitive response to someone who's just said she's the child of an alcoholic and reiterate that it's important to get to the truth with questions like hers and, say, an FBI investigation.
Orrin Hatch is up.

Every time one of these Rs sputters or raises his voice on the words "high school" to express incredulity that Kavanaugh could be called to answer for his behavior I wonder how many of them did something similar.

Clearly, they're identifying with Kavanaugh
Hatch asks a bunch of questions inviting Kavanaugh to damn DiFi for not having acted sooner.

Despite Dr. Ford having asked for confidentiality.

DiFi & co hadn't even asked you about any of these allegations until this hearing!?

It's a disgrace, Hatch says.
"Have you ever gotten aggressive while drinking?" Asks @ChrisCoons.

Kavanaugh literally just asked, "What are you talking about?"

He's equivocating.
Kavanaugh is doing exactly what he did at his initial hearing: A lot of "Let me explain," etc.

It's his filibuster lede.

Coons is on to Liz Swisher.
Here's the source and some more on people who remember Kavanaugh's drinking habits very clearly.…
Kavanaugh tangles with Coons, which is a bad idea.

Look at the rest of what Liz Swisher says, Kavanaugh says!

Coons replies calmly, "This is what stands out to me: 'Brett was a sloppy drunk, and I know because I drank with him.'"
Coons talks through Kavanaugh's interruptions; they're toned down bc

(a) Coons is a man
(b) Rs told Brett to cool it

Coons' point:

This is about the integrity of the Court; this could hang over your service.

So, yeah, why not delay for a week to clear your name?
Oh, God, it's Mike Lee.

He's emphasizing just how cooperative Kavanaugh has been.

Because cooperation with the processes that could land him the cushiest job in the country--one of the most important--means he'd never assault a woman.
Lee, like Hatch, is a watered-down Graham.

"For the love of all that is sacred and holy, if you care, participate in the committee investigations that are going on!"

"If someone were really interested, this is what they would do, they would participate in the hearing!"
So, all the questions asked to Kavanaugh are actually just attacks on Democrats, no?

So true, @Devilstower.
Also, follow-up on the "devil's triangle" reference--it's not just Kavanaugh lying about it.

Send whiskey. It's Ben Sasse.

"I think Dr. Ford's a victim and I think she's been through hell, but..."

Then another attack on DiFi and the Democrats for not coming forward sooner, for recommending a lawyer to Dr. Ford.

Again, despite Dr. Ford requesting confidentiality.
Oh, Sasse.

This is the second use of the word "crap" today by a Republican man.

I've never heard it in a hearing before.
It's my boy @SenBlumenthal.

He leads with "Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus."

It's a jury instruction. False in one thing, false in everything.

A diss in Latin. Nice.…
Blumenthal: Renate Dolphin found the yearbook comments awful.

You apologized bc it was a boast about sexual conquest.

Kavanaugh: The Ds are dragging her name through the mud! We never had sex!

Sir, the point is you and your bros lied about having sex with her. Which is awful.
Want to know just how horrible the "Renate Alumnius" club is?

One more @RSwirling shoutout.…
Blumenthal does exactly what I've wished for: Asks that Kavanaugh's filibusters be subtracted from his time.
Blumenthal calls Kavanaugh out on his Yale Law speech in which he talked about falling out of a bus drunk at 4:45 am.

Kavanaugh starts describing about the baseball game they went to see, I kid you not.

Also very reminiscent of his very painful original hearing.
Blumenthal points out that the quote ends with Kavanaugh talking about "piecing things together."

Yeah, that sure sounds like a black out night.

Grassley is SO ALARMED: "Take your time to answer that question."
It's Crapo now. He's just going to do the same thing as the other Republicans re FBI, so I'm going to share something more informative.

Keep in mind that almost all of the "beer" mentions were Brett's.

Well, here's why Mark Judge should have been subpoenaed.

Also, it's more proof of how full of it Kavanaugh is.

They're breaking for five minutes, so here's one more really important thing.

Thank you to the women who've DMed today about this thread. It's a very difficult day for a lot of us.

Take care of yourself. Reach out to others who could use it.

Reminder: It's the Republicans who've insisted on a deeply unfair, undemocratic process, not the Democrats.…
It's @maziehirono and she's so good.

The Rs are attacking Ds as if there's some kind of conspiracy.

That's because they want everyone to forget this morning.

"She is 100 percent sure it was you who attacked her."
"You said the Democrats were an embarrassment at the initial hearing?"

Which of our Qs were embarrassing?

She lists questions.

"Are credibility, character, and candor traits that should be of interest to us as we contemplate putting you on the Court for life?"

He's lost.
Kavanaugh just starts talking about the ABA's rating and how everyone who ever saw him in his court thinks he has judicial temperament.

Then he just repeats the second part in different ways at Hirono.
Hirono confirms Brett says he's never blacked out.

She reads a quote from his Yale roommate re: him being a heavy drinker.

Then Kavanaugh says, "I got into Yale Law School. It's the number one law school."

Because that also means he couldn't have sexually assaulted a woman.
"So you were not a 'sloppy drunk,' so your roommate was lying?"

"My academic record--I don't usually like to talk about myself this way..."

There's his most obvious lie.
Thom Tillis makes me ashamed to be a North Carolinian.

OTOH, he's fairly eloquent and reasonably effective Republican mouthpiece.

Underrated, really.
"You've been treated unfairly. I think it's amazing none of these questions came up" during the original hearing, says Tillis.

Again, these Republican men are openly insisting that a woman's privacy comes second to a man's reputation.
Recall this is what the Republican men decided to do with their time after booting the lady sex crimes prosecutor they hired to question Dr. Ford for them because she was being too fair and reasonable when she began questioning Kavanaugh.
Cory Booker is here to get a straight answer out of Kavanaugh.

"Did you drink on weekdays, yes or no?"

Booker rejected the run around.

The answer was yes.
The hearing's not even over, but it's not like McConnell or Grassley pretended it would affect their determination to push Kavanaugh through no matter what.
Booker's shredding the whole Dr. Ford-is-a-political-operative claim.

Dr. Ford was not doing this for political gain or coordinating when she revealed the assault in therapy in 2012, when she told her husband, and so on.

Correct, Sen. Booker.
"Do you agree with Sen. Graham that our asking you questions is the most despicable thing to happen in American politics?"

Zing, Booker.
Booker's closing:

"Dr. Ford is not a political pawn, she is not orchestrating, she is not part of the Clintons' efforts to get revenge--she's a woman who came here with credible evidence to corroborate her claim."
"I think Dr. Ford has also been poorly treated--by the Democrats and the media."

It's Ted Cruz, but who else would say something that baldly absurd and vicious.
Cruz says he empathizes with how hard it must have been for Kavanaugh to have to talk to his daughters about this.

It was supposed to remind us of his humanity. Instead if just reminded me that he's procreated, so I guess I'm not eating dinner tonight.
Oh, Ted.

He's attacking Senate Democrats, he's attacking Avenatti, he's attacking the women who've leveled accusations at Kavanaugh.

"Flailing" is the right word for this, I think.
DiFi gets to respond after Cruz concludes his slander, which ended in claiming that either DiFi or Rep. Eshoo *had* to have been the one to release the letter.
DiFi: "I was given information by a woman who was very afraid and asked that it be held confidential and I held it confidential until she decided that she would come forward."
Cornyn is attacking DiFi: Do you know that your staff didn't leak it?

So now the Republicans are back to directly attacking their Democratic colleagues.

This is even more direct than Graham.

Cornyn's badgering his Senate colleague and accusing her of lying, in essence.
Cruz has to pop back up to belabor the (false) point that Democrats deliberately hid this information and thus are responsible for preventing a confidential, bipartisan investigation process.
DiFi jumps back in to point out that the story leaked before the letter.

Cornyn attacks DiFi, who responds equanimously.

"Senator, I don't think the letter was ever leaked."
It's @KamalaHarris, and she'd like to know if Kavanaugh has taken a polygraph.

He nervously says he'll do whatever the committee wants but, as she knows, those are not reliable or admissible in court.

Here's a receipt real quick.…
"Are you willing to ask the White House to conduct an investigation by the FBI to get to the bottom of whatever you believe is the bottom of the allegations leveled against you?"

"The FBI would gather witness stateme--"
She's back to the yes/no.

"Are you willing to ask the White House to conduct such an investigation?"

He just goes back to the six background investigations he's had. Then, "no witness that was there..." He's bumbling.
"You & Gorsuch went to the same HS, prestigious law schools, clerked for the same justice"--Harris lists all the parallels.

"The only difference is you have been accused of sexual assault."

Shorter Harris: Gorsuch is just like you, but no one says he sexually assaulted them.
Kavanaugh is back to listing all of the ways that we should know that women love him.

He has friends who are women he's had since high school!

He's worked with women who didn't accuse him of sexual assault!

He sent female law clerks to the Supreme Court!
Kavanaugh claims he did not watch Dr. Ford's testimony. That's not what was reported initially, or during the hearing.

Nor does it make sense.

Why else insist on going second? You listen to the argument you're going to rebut.…
Sen. Kennedy is so crazy.

"Look me in the eye and tell me if Dr. Ford's allegations are true."

"They are not accurate as to me."

He can't even answer yes or no to save himself.

"I've never done this to anyone, including her."
"Are Ms. Ramirez's allegations true?"

"None of the witnesses in the room support that."

Which is not "no."
"Are Ms. Swetnick's allegations true?"

"They're not true...I never met her."

"None of these allegations are true?"


"No doubt in your mind?"

"100 percent certain."

"Not even a scintilla of doubt."

"100 percent certain."

""You swear to God?"

"I swear to God."
The hearing is over.

I'll do some quick round up, then put together a post I'll share here.

First things first, though: In case you doubted DiFi.
Maybe a few superlatives?

Best commentary on Kavanaugh's comportment.
Most accurate summary of Kavanaugh's opening statement.
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