Thread by @BuzzFeedNews

Republicans keep on saying Democrats leaked Dr. Ford’s letter at the last minute in order to sabotage Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.

But there’s not much evidence to support that. Here’s a play-by-play of what happened buzzfeednews.com/article/paulmc…

1/ During the summer, Senator Feinstein received the letter, which was dated July 30. She says she kept it a secret out of respect for Ford, who didn’t want to come forward publicly.

That lines up with what Ford’s lawyer has said too: sacbee.com/news/politics-…

2/ Before Ford anonymously confirmed to the @NewYorker that she sent the letter, rumors of its existence spread in Washington. News outlets caught wind of it (including us) but no one could confirm the story. On Sept 12 @TheIntercept reported on the rumors
theintercept.com/2018/09/12/bre…

@NewYorker @theintercept 3/ Feinstein met with Judiciary Committee Democrats the same evening the letter’s existence became public. Ford’s lawyer was seen in the building at the time.

The next day, she referred it to the FBI. So Sept 13 was when the public knew this letter involving Kavanaugh was real

4/ This is where it gets messy:

The FBI included a redacted copy of the letter in Kavanaugh’s background file — making the document accessible to every senator and the White House.

Remember: Ford was still trying to keep the allegations private by this point.

5/ On Sept 14, shortly after he was spotted in the Palo Alto area where Ford lives, Ronan Farrow for the first time laid out the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, without naming the accuser for the @NewYorker:
newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

6/ Two days later Ford made her name public and confirmed the allegations in @WashingtonPost. She said she came forward because of media pursuit of the story (including us — we approached her and she declined to comment) and the spread of false information washingtonpost.com/investigations…

Of course, the allegations are helpful as Democrats try to stop Kavanaugh — and that's probably why a lot of Republicans believe Feinstein was strategic about when they became public.

However, as this timeline shows, there's just not much evidence that's true.