Brett Kavanaugh hearing: Trump says 'it's possible I'll change my mind' on Supreme Court nominee, ahead of alleged victim Christine Blasey Ford's testimony

'We’re giving the women a major chance to speak,' president says

The first of three women to accuse Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct will tell Congress she will “never forget” what happened and that it “altered her life”.

Dr Christine Blasey Ford alleges that Mr Kavanaugh tried to force himself upon her at a party while both were high school students in the 1980s. “I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t remember as much as I would like to,” Dr Ford will tell the panel on Thursday, according to prepared remarks. “But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget.”

Mr Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hangs in the balance, will offer a radically different version of events as he too gives testimony on Thursday. A vote on his confirmation is set to take place on Friday.

Mr Kavanaugh faced a new accuser on Wednesday, as Julie Swetnick alleged in a sworn declaration that she observed Mr Kavanaugh at high school parties where women were verbally and physically abused, including being present at one in which she was the victim of a gang rape.

Mr Kavanagh called Ms Swetnick's accusation “ridiculous" and "from the Twilight Zone”, having already strenuously denied Dr Ford’s allegation and another by Deborah Ramirez, who has accused the judge of sexual misconduct while the two were students at Yale University.

In a transcript of a conference call released by the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of the hearing on Thursday, Mr Kavanugh also denied two other allegations. He denied assaulting a woman he was dating in 1998 while working for the independent counsel Ken Starr. He also denied an allegation made by an unidentified Rhode Island man “concerning a rape on a boat in August of 1985”.

Mr Trump has defended his nominee a number of times, including during a press conference at the UN on Wednesday where he called the allegations a “con job” perpetrated by Democrats to stymy his nomination. However the president said that it was possible he could change his mind over the allegations.

“We’re giving the women a major chance to speak. It’s possible I’ll hear that and I’ll say: ‘Hey, I’m changing my mind.’ It’s possible,” he said.

In her testimony, Dr Ford is due to lay out how the alleged incident changed her life.

“Brett's assault on me drastically altered my life. For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details,” she wrote in her prepared statement.

“I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should be able to move on and just pretend that it had never happened.”

Dr Ford alleges that she was locked in a bedroom with Mr Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge during a small gathering at a house in Washington DC suburbs in 1982.

“I believed [Brett Kavanaugh] was going to rape me,” she said in her statement. The fact that he covered her mouth she says “terrified” her the most, and has had “the most lasting impact”.

“It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.”

When Mr Judge jumped on the bed, she says “we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me.” She was then able to run from the room.

Mr Judge also denies the allegations, and says he cannot recall the incident.

Dr Ford wrote in her prepared testimony published by the Senate committee that Mr Kavanaugh’s future prospects are not her concern.

“It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court,” she said. “My responsibility is to tell the truth.”