Brett Kavanaugh hearing: Trump tweets support for nominee as hearing ends after Christine Ford says she is '100%' sure judge assaulted her
Dr Christine Ford tells senate she thought Brett Kavanaugh was 'going to rape and accidentally kill' her as Supreme Court judge says his wife and family have been left 'destroyed' by false allegations
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Christine Ford has told Congress that she believed Brett Kavanaugh was "going to rape her" in dramatic testimony over her sexual assault allegation against Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee.
Dr Ford said she was "100 per cent" sure it was Mr Kavanaugh who assaulted her.
Later, Mr Kavanaugh appeared in front of the same Senate panel, the judiciary committee, and denied the allegations calling the hearing a "circus". He said he believed Dr Ford had been assaulted at some point, but not by him.
Dr Ford said she was "terrified" of testifying, but that she believes it is her "civic duty". Before she began Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, commended her on coming forward.
The clash pitted her word against his. Members of the Senate, controlled 51-49 by Trump's fellow Republicans, must now decide whether to vote to confirm him after the extraordinary nearly nine-hour-long hearing. Senate Republicans planned to meet on Thursday night to discuss the next steps on the nomination.
“I swear today, under oath, before the Senate and the nation, before my family and God, I am innocent of this charge,” Mr Kavanaugh told the Judiciary Committee later.
Calling himself a victim of “grotesque and obvious character assassination,” Mr Kavanaugh, speaking passionately, said he “unequivocally and categorically” denied Dr Ford's allegation.
“I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process,” Mr Kavanaugh added.
Writing on Twitter after the hearing, President Donald Trump said of Mr Kavanaugh, “His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats' search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!”
My calendars were sort of diaries of sorts, forwards looking and backwards." he said.
"The calendars are not dispositive on their own, but they are another piece in the mix to consider," the judge said.
Mr Kavanaugh continues to catch himself holding back tears, pausing as he turns pages of his prepared remarks.
"Maybe it was because I am an only child and I had no sisters," but I had several female friends - "not girlfriends....friends for a lifetime," Mr Kavanaugh said, crying.
"I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out and I did not sexually assault someone."
"There is a bright line" between drinking beer and assaulting someone, Mr Kavanaugh said.
Mr Kavanaugh is clearly emotional trying to get through his opening statement.
"It was not related to sex," Mr Kavanaugh said about a yearbook comment the "circus" of media misreported, in his estimation.
Several boys from his school said they were "alumni" of a woman named "Renate" in the memory book.
Here are the calendars from 1982 to which Mr Kavanaugh has been referring:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4945674/Kavanaugh-Summer-1982-Calendar.pdf
"They put themselves on the line for me. Those are some awesome women," he said of the 65 women who signed a letter in support of Mr Kavanaugh in the wake of Dr Ford's allegations.
Mr Kavanaugh's wife is sitting behind him, stoically.
Brett Kavanaugh reveals his daughter suggested they pray for Christine Ford
He praised and thanked the "84 women" who worked with him in the Bush White House.
He references a statement written by a former female employee of his as he continues to read his remarks through tears.
"I took notice and I took action," noting how the majority of his 48 law clerks were women after seeing a 2006 report about the lack of female law clerks in the federal court system.
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