Lindsey Graham tells rape survivor to 'go to the cops' then walks off, amid Kavanaugh hearing

Senator's response 'horrifically insensitive and dismissive', woman says

Senator Lindsey Graham told a rape survivor to “go to the cops” and walked away from her as she confronted him outside Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearing.

Robyn Swirling approached the Republican during a break in evidence at the Senate Judiciary Committee and asked if he believed she had been sexually assaulted.

Mr Graham had earlier told Mr Kavanaugh he had “nothing to apologise for”, indicating he doubted Christine Blasey Ford’s account of being groped by the judge they were teenagers.

In footage of Ms Swirling’s exchange with the senator, she is heard saying: “Senator Graham, I was raped 13 years ago.”

Mr Graham tells her: “I’m so sorry.”

He then walks away as Ms Swirling asks: “I don’t remember the exact date, but do you believe me?”

The senator, without turning to look at her, replies: “You needed to go to the cops. Go to the cops.”

Ms Swirling described Mr Graham’s response as “horrifically insensitive and dismissive”.

“If [he] had paused to talk with me, instead of rushing into the elevator, I’d have told him the cops can’t do anything about it now, but that doesn’t make it any less true and doesn’t make me any less credible,” she tweeted.

Ms Swirling is the founder of Work in Progress, an organisation which campaigns against sexual harassment in the workplace. She said she went to the committee hearing on her lunch break to ask senators “to care about the experiences of sexual assault survivors and to believe us”.

During four hours of often emotional testimony, Ms Ford told the committee’s 21 senators – only four of them women - she was “100 per cent” certain Mr Kavanaugh had assaulted her at a high school party in Maryland in the early 1980s.

The California psychology professor said she was “terrified” to be testifying but felt it was her “civic duty”.

Following the hearing, Mr Graham implied he did not believe Ms Ford’s account because she could not remember certain details of the alleged assault 36 years ago.

“She can’t tell us how she got home that night, how she got there,” the senator said. “That’s the facts I’m left with: a nice lady who has come forward to tell a hard story that’s uncorroborated.”

Earlier, he raged at Democrats who he accused of using the allegations against Mr Kavanaugh to delay his appointment, describing Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee as “a victim”.

“What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020,” he said. “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.”

He later appeared to imply that future Democrat nominees would face false accusations in retaliation if Mr Kavanaugh's appointment was scuppered.

“Let me tell you my Democratic friends... if this is the new norm, you better watch out for your nominees," Mr Graham said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to meet on Friday morning to consider Mr Kavanaugh's nomination.

Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, have accused the judge of sexual misconduct in the 1980s. He denies the allegations.