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U.S. NEWS Friday 28 September 2018
SENATE SHOWDOWN servative jurist in what was
Continued from Front supposed to be an election
The memory — and Kava- year capstone to the GOP
naugh's laughter during agenda, locking in the
the act — was "locked" in court's majority for years to
her brain, she said: "100 come. Instead the nomina-
percent." Hours later, Ka- tion that Republicans were
vanaugh angrily denied it, rushing for a vote now
alternating a loud, defiant hangs precariously after
tone with near tears as he one of the most emotionally
addressed the Senate Judi- charged hearings Capitol
ciary Committee. Hill has ever seen. Coming
"You have replaced 'ad- amid a national reckoning
vice and consent' with over sexual misconduct at
'search and destroy," he the top of powerful institu-
said, referring to the Consti- tions, it exposed contin-
tution's charge to senators' ued divisions over justice,
duties in confirming high of- fairness and who should
ficials. be believed. And coming
What happens next may weeks before elections, it
hinge on what Trump and ensured that debate would
his Republican allies think play into the fight for con-
about the display in what trol of Congress. Ford, who is a research psy- Republican strategists were GOP special counsel Ra-
could become a defin- The day opened with Ford, chologist, "the uproarious privately hand-wringing chel Mitchell, a Phoenix
ing moment for a party now a 51-year-old college laughter between the two." after Ford's testimony. The sex crimes prosecutor, who
that has struggled to retain professor in California, rais-
female voters. The GOP- ing her right hand to swear
controlled committee was under oath about the alle-
scheduled to vote Friday gations she said she never
morning on whether to expected to share publicly
push ahead with the con- until they leaked in the me-
servative judge's nomina- dia two weeks ago and re-
tion. porters started staking out
Repeatedly Democrats her home and work in Cali-
asked Kavanaugh to call fornia.
for an FBI investigation into Wearing a blue suit as Anita
the claims. He did not. Hill did more two decades
"I welcome whatever the ago when she testified
committee wants to do," about sexual misconduct
he said. by Clarence Thomas, the
Republicans are reluctant mom of two testified be-
for several reasons, includ- fore a committee that with
ing the likelihood that fur- only male senators on the
ther investigations could Republican side of the dais.
push a vote past the No- The psychology professor
vember elections that may described what she says
switch Senate control back was a harrowing assault in
to the Democrats and the summer of 1982: How an
make consideration of any inebriated Kavanaugh and
Trump nominee more dif- another teen, Mark Judge,
ficult. locked her in a room at a
Across more than 10 hours, house party as Kavanaugh
the senators heard from was grinding and grop-
only the two witnesses. ing her. She said he put his
Ford delivered her testi- hand over her mouth to
mony with steady, deliber- muffle her screams.
ate certitude. She admit- "I believed he was going to
ted gaps in her memory rape me," she testified.
as she choked back tears When the committee's top
and said she "believed he Democrat, Sen. Dianne
was going to rape me." Feinstein of California,
Kavanaugh's entered the asked how she could be
hearing room fuming and sure that Kavanaugh was
ready to fight, as he angrily the attacker, Ford said, "The
denied the charges from same way I'm sure I'm talk-
Ford and other woman ac- ing to you right now." Later,
cusing him of misconduct, she told Sen. Dick Durbin,
barked back at senators D-Ill., that her certainty was
and dismissed some ques- "100 percent."
tions with a flippant "what- Asked by Sen. Patrick Lea-
ever." hy, D-Vt., for her strongest
"You may defeat me in the memory of the alleged in-
final vote, but you'll never cident, Ford, said it was the
get me to quit, never," he two boys' laughter.
said. "Indelible in the hippocam-
Trump nominated the con- pus is the laughter," said