Christine Blasey Ford is breaking her silence on U.S. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh for the first time since he was confirmed in spite of her sexual assault allegations.
The research psychologist from northern California came forward during Kavanaugh's confirmation battle to accuse the federal judge of sexually assaulting her decades prior, when both were high school students. Her new memoir due next week reveals why she believes the conservative justice is unqualified to hold his esteemed position, according to excerpts published by The Guardian.
She accused him of sexually assaulting her while drunk at school.
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“The fact is, he was there in the room with me that night in 1982,” Ford writes, "and I believe he knows what happened. Even if it’s hazy from the alcohol, I believe he must know."
“Once he categorically denied my allegations as well as any bad behavior from his past during a Fox News interview, I felt more certainty than ever that after my experience with him, he had not gone on to become the consummately honest person befitting a Supreme Court justice," Ford adds.
Ford writes that she believed Kavanaugh might “step down to avoid putting his family through an investigation or further scrutiny," but he maintained the support of then-president Donald Trump and Senate Republicans — some of whom made clear they believed her allegations, but voted to confirm anyway.
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“Honestly, if it hadn’t been the Supreme Court — if my attacker had been running for a local office, for example — I probably wouldn’t have said anything," Ford writes. "But this was a job at one of our most revered institutions, which we have historically held in the highest esteem. That’s what I learned at school.”
Ford had believed that everyone shared that same view, but came to realize that wasn't so, she said.
“Wasn’t it inarguable that a Supreme Court justice should be held to the highest standard?" she writes.
"A presidency you could win, but to be a Supreme Court justice, you needed to live your perfection. These nine people make decisions that affect every person in the country. I figured the application process should be as thorough as possible, and perhaps I could be a letter of (non)reference.”
Ford contacted her congresswoman, Ann Eshoo (D-CA), and the Washington Post after Kavanaugh was nominated, and soon found herself in the center of a political maelstrom.
“I never, ever wanted [Kavanaugh’s] family to suffer,” Ford writes. “When my allegations came out publicly, the media started reporting that he was getting threats. It troubled me a lot."
“Then I remembered that I’d already had to move to a hotel because of the threats to me and my family," she added. "Again and again I thought, ‘Why is he putting us all through this? Why can’t he call those people off? Say something — anything — to condemn the harassment happening on both sides?”
Kavanaugh infamously reacted with anger during the hearings as he faced tough questions about Ford's allegations and his history of drinking, and she said those emotional outbursts show why he's not fit to serve on the Supreme Court.
“If you can’t handle that,” Ford writes, “then maybe you’re not qualified for the job.”
