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!”
"You're interviewing me...there are no conclusions reached" by an FBI investigation, Mr Kavanaugh said, stopping short of actually saying he supported an investigation.
"The [Julie] Swetnick thing is a joke, that is a farce," he said about Ms Swetnick's allegations.
He repeatedly said he "liked" and "likes" beer and that the legal drinking age in Maryland at the time was 18, regarding Dr Ford's allegations he was "clearly inebriated" during the alleged assault.
"We drank beer, so did the majority of people that age at that time," Mr Kavanaugh said, denying the assault again.
Ms Mitchell is now going through every detail in Dr Ford's allegation, step by step, and Mr Kavanaugh is denying each of them.
It feels like a courtroom hearing.
Ms Mitchell is now going through the calendars and Mr Kavanaugh said they are "both forward looking and backward looking," meaning things he wanted to do and things he had done are both listed.
Mr Kavanaugh said he has preserved the calendars all this time because his father has done the same with his, calling him "a good role model".
The hearing is now taking a short break.
Despite Mr Kavanaugh's obvious distress and conviction he is innocent, some people have wondered why he was not subject to a polygraph test about the incident in the way Dr Ford was when the allegations surfaced.
Some sexual assault survivors, who have asked not to be named, told The Independent the fact Mr Kavanaugh kept calendars does not necessarily mean he did not commit assault or would have documented the alleged sexual assault.
One woman, Linda from St Louis, Missouri, told C-SPAN: "It's not about the calendar, it's about the event".
People have taken to social media to say Mr Kavanaugh hitting out at "the left" for the fallout from the scandal proves he is not impartial enough to sit on the bench of the Supreme Court.
Others have claimed, despite the death threats she said she was receiving, Dr Ford also came forward for political reasons and some sort of gain.
Whatever you think, it is clear emotions are running high around this hearing - which it seems the entire country is watching or listening to.
Senator Patrick Leahy begins after the break by asking if Mr Kavanaugh if he wanted Mr Judge to appear in front of the committee.
The pair go back and forth and Mr Kavanaugh said "he has provided sworn testimony. The allegation came in weeks ago and it was sprung on me," but he stopped short of saying "yes".
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