Thread by @cathleendecker

"We will hear from two witnesses"--Grassley opening the hearing with a nod to the extremely limited nature of the re-opened Kavanaugh matter.

Grassley opens with request for decency and civility, then moves into praise of Kavanaugh and reminder that "nowhere" in previous FBI looks at him "was there a whiff" of inappropriate sexual behavior. Repeats that Dems kept Ford letter "secret"--which is how Ford wanted it.

Grassley, opening a meeting at which Republicans refused to allow other witnesses, blames Democrats and the media for the current mess.

The Grassley opening statement represents the divide: Republicans angry about what they say were Democratic "grandstanding and chaos", and leaning on process; Dems and the woman who is about to testify approaching it from 180 degrees away.

Grassley now criticizing attorneys for others who have accused Kavanaugh of wrongdoing, although Republicans have made clear from the get-go that no other witnesses--including those who back up Ford--would be allowed.

Feinstein, now up, defends herself and reiterates that she kept Ford's accusation private at Ford's request. "How women are treated in the United States...is really wanting a lot of reform." And now Grassley mansplains her introduction of Ford.

Worth reminding that Feinstein is in a re-election race with a fellow Democrat, Kevin de Leon, who has tried to make hay over Feinstein's handling of this. Hard to do given that Republicans are also attacking Feinstein.

Feinstein recalls walking through an airport and seeing a crowd gathered to watch the testimony of Anita Hill, directly connecting the echo from 27 years ago to now (an event that helped insure that Feinstein and women like her are on the podium today).

Feinstein offering details of the claims of witnesses that will not be testifying before this, including those raised yesterday. "Each of these stories are troubling on their own and each of these allegations should be investigated by the FBI."

Grassley reprimands Feinstein for bringing up "unsubstantiated" claims and says those will be dealt with "at other times." But there are no other times; vote scheduled soon after this session. Grassley swears in Ford. "Proceed, please."

"I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified," Blasey Ford says, and her voice breaks. "I understand and appreciate the importance of (you) hearing from me."

"This is how I met Brett Kavanaugh, the boy who sexually assaulted me."

"They have been seared into my memory and haunted me episodically as an adult," Ford says after saying she does not remember all the details of the evening. Voice shaking as she describes what she said happened next.

"He began running his hands over my body and grinding into me," she said. "Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was very inebriated...I believed that he was going to rape me."

"I ran inside the bathroom and locked the door." She said she remembers Kavanaugh and Judge laughing and "pinballing" down the stairs. "Brett's assault on me drastically altered my life..I convinced myself that because Brett did not rape me I should just move on."

Ford said that she did not discuss the details fo the assault until a therapy session that stemmed from her insistence during a home remodel that her home have a second front door (friends have said she wanted an escape route.). She said she described Kavanaugh to her husband.

Ford said she did not publicly name Kavanaugh until this summer when he was listed as a potential Supreme Court nominee. "I thought it was my civil duty to relay the information I had about Mr. Kavanaugh's conduct."

"I agonized daily with this decision throughout August," Ford says after thanking Feinstein for keeping her information secret. "My fears of the consequences of speaking out started to exponentially increase."

Ford's testimony was released yesterday, but it is another thing altogether to see her deliver it, passionately and emotionally, but firmly. She is not coming across as a "loon," as Lindsey Graham characterized another accuser this morning.

"I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives. Those who say that do not know me...I am no one's pawn."

After Ford's gutwrenching testimony, Grassley immediately returns to discussing the process. Jarring.

Rachel Mitchell, the prosecutor hired by Republicans to question Ford, starts questioning her about messages to a Washington Post reporter and another letter, asking if they are accurate.

Here's a Post piece on Mitchell: washingtonpost.com/politics/caree…

Ford is now correcting a letter that she wrote, at which point Grassley interrupts the prosecutor and now Feinstein speaks. Ford was able only to note 2 of the 3 discrepancies in her letter before being stopped.

Ford says the biggest impact was in the initial 4 years after the attack, but some symptoms--claustrophobia, for example--endure to the present. She did in fact get the second front door she demanded for her home.

Feinstein: How are you so sure that it was Kavanaugh? Ford answering as a scientist, about the function of the brain in recalling trauma. "Absolutely not" a case of mistaken identity, Ford says.

Ford says that if the committee could find out when Mark Judge worked at a Safeway, they'd be better able to figure out the time of the event. As with her request for an FBI probe, she's asking for an investigation of herself. Kavanaugh has not.

Mitchell asks for details of the evening in question, again describes Kavanaugh and Judge as being very inebriated.

It's typical of congressional hearings but nonetheless disjointed to have a prosecutor interviewing Ford, interrupted regularly by Democratic senators expressing their support.

"Bravery is contagious," Leahy says to Ford, telling her she is an example to other women.

"I was underneath one of them while the two friends laughed," Ford says.

Another sign of the limits of this hearing is that apparently no one is allowed to have a copy of the exhibit Ford was just given. (According to Grassley, who denied them to Democrats on the committee.)

"With what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?"--Durbin.
"100 percent"--Ford.

"I said hello to him and his face was white"--Ford says of seeing Judge at a Safeway 6-8 weeks after the night. She said he looked physically ill. Another jarring moment as Grassley then angrily condemns Democrats for keeping her account secret.

As testimony restarts, worth noting that so far Republicans have not seized on what Trump understood in 2016: Emotion beats process. So far, all the emotion is on Ford's side (with a lot of the hearing to come, of course.)

Grassley again defending his handling of this hearing, which again goes to the process of getting Ford to DC--not to her request for an FBI investigation or requests for witnesses who backed up her story.

Grassley is a perfect example of that political adage: If you're still explaining, you're losing.

On Fox, Chris Wallace talked today about finding out from his daughters things that had happened to them in high school (as a result of the Ford story:) washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-…

Mitchell eliciting statements from Ford that she does fly to vacations etc. She readily acknowledges that she does (she has said she's fearful of closed places as a result of the assault.)

Klobuchar asks what she can't forget from that night. The snippets as Ford describes them: the staircase, the bed on the right side of the room, the bathroom in close proximity...

Grassley demands more data from the polygraph examiner; Klobuchar notes that Republicans refused to allow the examiner to testify, though the report from him has been received.
"You got what you wanted; I'd think you'd be satisfied," Grassley says to Klobuchar.

It's not just the treatment of Ford that is risky for Republicans here; it's the treatment by male senators of female senators. To them it may just feel like partisan bickering; but to those watching on TV, particularly women, it may play differently.

Here is the story written by @emmersbrown that stemmed from the conversations Ford is now describing: washingtonpost.com/investigations…

Asked by Coons how she's been impacted: "The younger you are when these things happen, it could possibly have a worse impact." There wasn't a lot fo drama but a scientific response that gets across that she's not milking this.

Republicans are now spending minutes on whether Ford was offered the chance to talk to committee staff in California versus having to come back to DC. Again, process. And again, something that may seem off the point to viewers.

So far the Republicans have pushed to prove that Ford has flown in the past despite claustrophobia and hired a lawyer on the advice of her friends.

On why the polygraph examiner came to her, not the reverse: "I had left my grandmother's funeral" that day or the day before. Now Ford is being quizzed on whether she was given tips on how to take a polygraph.

Prosecutor's questions seem to be aimed at proving some collusion between Ford and unnamed others who guided her re the polygraph process. Also trying to get at video/audio records of polygraph although Republican senators have refused to admit testimony from the examiner.

"Is there a political motivation in your coming forward?" Hirono asks. "No" Ford says reiterating that she started raising questions about Kavanaugh before he was named as the nominee, not after as part of a Democratic smear.

"We should be made to face the question of who it is "we are putting in high positions, Hirono says. "The issue of character matters." Hirono then brings up accusations against Trump and separations of border families.

"Let me not interrupt you," says Grassley to Hirono, giving some glimpse at the message Republican senators may have received during the lunch break.

Back to the polygraph. "Let's put an end to this misery: her lawyers paid for her polygraph...As is routine" Ford's lawyers tell Mitchell. Mitchell asks who is paying the bills. Ford mentions go-fund-me accounts, which she says she doesn't know how to access.

Did you or anyone on your behalf speak to any member of congress or staff? Ford says "I did not." Mitchell is pressing about the actions of anyone who might have been speaking for her. Ford lawyer notes prosecutor is now asking her to guess.

Ford asked if she knows how the letter became public. "No," Ford says.

"They're doing fairly well, considering; thank you for asking," Ford says to Booker about her husband and children.

"I wish that I could be more helpful and others could be more helpful and we could collaborate in a way to get more information," Ford says when asked by Booker what she thinks of the absence of a re-opened FBI investigation.

Mitchell back up, asking about how she came to get the lawyers she has and who referred them. Seems to be trying to make a case for Democratic collusion after the fact but that doesn't go to the root of the accusation.

"I would be happy to cooperate with the FBI, yes," Ford says when asked what she would have done. Now Mitchell back on who's paying the bills. Will be interesting to see if she asks Kavanaugh about his finances during his testimony, as questions have been raised about that.

The question for the second half of this session: Does Kavanaugh come out blazing in the model of Clarence Thomas and Donald Trump? And does that backfire? Or does he approach it more softly and risk not matching the emotional power of Ford's testimony?

Did you know that the best way to recount memories is in a private setting, Mitchell asks Ford. Five minutes at a stretch in public is not the right way, she says.

Mitchell questioning why Ford hired an attorney as opposed to going through an exam about her memories., and now her questions are over. Grassley introducing letters from Mark Judge and others. Democrats trying to introduce more letters from those backing up Ford.

"Dr. Ford...thank you very much for your testimony; more importantly for your bravery coming out," Grassley says to her. Now a 45 minute break before Kavanaugh. This undoubtedly comes down to he said/she said because no other witnesses will be allowed.

Lindsey Graham says he doesn't doubt "something happened" to Ford who he described as "very competent." So GOP argument is she remembers a sexual assault but does not remember who did it. Not the best suburban woman argument.

Kavanaugh, visibly angry: "I denied the allegation immediately, categorically and unequivocally...My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations."

"Listen to the people I know, listen to the people who've known me my whole life... I was not at the party described by Dr. Ford. This confirmation process has become a total disgrace." Blames "a frenzy on the left."

Kavanaugh expresses anger at the delay of the past ten days, and fiercely goes after Democrats: "You sowed the wind, for decades to come I fear the whole country will reap the whirlwind."

"All nonsense reported breathlessly and often uncritically by the media. This has destroyed my family and my good name...a calculated political hit." (Also calls it revenge of the Clintons.)

"I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. You've tried hard you've given it your all. Your coordinated effort...will not drive me out. You may defeat me in the final vote but you'll never get me to quit. Never."

"Allegations of sexual assault should always be taken seriously..at the same time the person who is the subject of the allegations also deserves to be heard." Kavanaugh tearing up as he discusses his mom going to law school when he was 10.

"This pnslaught of last minute allegations does not ring true" Says that he does not doubt Ford was assaulted "at some polace, at some time." "I am innocent of this charge."

Kavanaugh returning to his tenure on Ken Starr's Whitewater prosecution team. Notes that some members of the team were outed for wrongdoing, but not him. (Followup on his earlier contention this is revenge for the Clintons).

"I've never sexually assaulted Dr. Ford or anyone. Again, I'm not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted."--Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh, occasionally teary, detailing how he was busy on weekend nights as shown by his calendar. (Though he says he's presuming the alleged party was on a weekend)

"I liked beer. I still like beer. but I never drank to the point of blacking out" or sexually assaulted someone, he says.

Now to the yaerbook: "Our yearbook was a disaster." A combination of Caddyshack/Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Re Renate: "One of our good female friends...that yearbook reference was clumsily intended to show affection." "So sorry to her for that yearbook reference."

In echo of his words the day he was nominated by President Trump, Kavanaugh is citing his longstanding friendships with women, his hiring of women clerks and his contingent hiring of women Supreme Court clerks. "That is who I am. That is who I was."

As his wife Ashley sits behind him looking bereft, Kavanaugh looks at Democrats and notes that "thanks to what some of you on this side of the committee have unleashed" he may never be able to teach or coach again.

"I ask you to judge me by the standard you would want to have applied to your father, your brother, your husband or your son....I am innocent of this charge."--Kavanaugh's closing lines.

"Senator I'll do whatever the committee wants"--Kavanaugh, angry again, responding to Feinstein's question about why the accusers want FBI investigations but he hasn't called for it. "I'm here. I wanted to be here the next day. It's an outrage."

"You're interviewing me, sorry to interrupt," Kavanaugh says after Feinstein repeats the question of why he hasn't called for an FBI investigation. "The Swetnick thing is a joke. It's a farce."

Have you ever passed out from drinking? Mitchell asks. "Never passed out, I've gone to sleep. Never blacked out"

Mitchell is going through Ford's statement line by line, asking Kavanaugh if it's true: "No," he says repeatedly.

Kavanaugh blaming Blumenthal for the references to Renate in Kavanaugh's high school yearbook. "You're just dragging her through the mud." Earlier, Kavanaugh had said he was "so sorry" for the sexual innuendo.

Such a contrast between the morning and afternoon sessions. In morning, Rep senators mute as female prosecutor Mitchell questions Ford. In afternoon, Mitchell mute as Rep senators lay into Democrats.

Also a fascinating distinction between the yelling Republican senators (and tearful, angry Judge Kavanagh) and how women are expected to behave in the same positions.