The woman who wrote a letter to Democrats in Congress accusing Judge Kavanaugh of assault has now come forward. Christine Blasey Ford, currently a statistics professor at Palo Alto College, has gone on the record with her recollections of the incident. Ms. Ford told The Washington Post that it occurred one summer in the early 1980’s, when she was 15 years old and attending the all-girls Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, MD. Kavanaugh was then a student at Georgetown Prep.
As the story goes, Ms. Ford claims that, at a small party in the D.C. suburbs, Brett Kavanaugh and one of his friends named Mark Judge pushed her against her will into a bedroom. She says that the teenage Kavanaugh, who was “stumbling drunk,” then held her down, and against her protestations, tried (unsuccessfully) to forcibly remove her clothes and covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Nuts?
Mr. Judge, alleged to be the other attacker, vehemently denied the accusation late last week before Ms. Ford came forward, saying “It’s just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way.” He has also stated that Kavanaugh was a “brilliant student who loved sports and was not into anything crazy or illegal.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) released a letter last week from 65 women who knew Kavanaugh during his prep school years: “Through the more than 35 years we have known him, Brett has stood out for his friendship, character, and integrity,” the women wrote. “In particular, he has always treated women with decency and respect. That was true when he was in high school, and it has remained true to this day.”
The obvious questions are why Ms. Ford did not report nor tell anyone of the incident after it happened, and why she waited a full quarter of a century to come forward with this last-minute accusation just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the Kavanaugh nomination. The Washington Post story indicates that Ms. Ford feared the consequences of a public revelation of the incident, and quotes her as saying, “Why suffer through the annihilation if it’s not going to matter?”
Dem Leaks
But evidently, her name and address were leaked by the Democrats. Reporters came to her home and were telephoning her colleagues in an apparent effort to force her into the public square. She ultimately relented.
At press time neither the White House nor Judge Kavanaugh have commented on the allegations. Ms. Ford’s background will surely be inspected closely in the days ahead. Comparisons will undoubtedly be drawn between this story and the similarly explosive, similarly last-minute accusations of Anita Hill against then-Judge Clarence Thomas meant to derail his nomination to the high court.
Thomas was confirmed.
*Hat tip to Tim Donner
