The fate of Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court remains uncertain after a strident and emotional day of testimony from both himself and one of his accusers, which at times brought people to tears. Whether it changed the vote of a single person who will determine his future, has yet to be seen.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to meet on Friday morning to consider Brett Kavanaugh's nomination. If the committee votes to approve him, his nomination will go to the full senate for final confirmation. It was not immediately clear if Republicans believed they had all the votes they would need from the 21-member committee.
On Thursday, in an appearance that was at times blazing and even angry, Mr Kavanaugh denied sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford, or any of the other women who have accused him of doing so. He said the allegations against him, and the process to try and rebut them had destroyed “my family and my good name”.
Mr Trump certainly approved of his nominee's high-stakes performance. He tweeted: “Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. 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.”
The president’s nominee, a 53-year-old appeals court judge, sought to present himself as the victim of “a calculated and orchestrated political hit” fuelled by anger left over from Mr Trump’s 2016 election win and a desire for revenge among supporters of Hillary Clinton.
“I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. Your coordinated and well funded effort to destroy my good name ... will not drive me out,” he told the committee.
Earlier on Thursday, during the course of more than four hours, Ms Ford, a California-based psychology professor, delivered testimony that at times was equally emotional, but overall more measured. She said she had no wish to be present and was testifying out of a sense of civic duty.
“I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school,” she said.
She told the 21 senators, just four of them women – all Democrats – she was “100 per cent” certain that it was Mr Kavanaugh who had assaulted her at a high school party in Maryland in the early 1980s – an attempt to dismiss suggestions some had made that while she may have been assaulted, it was by someone other than Mr Trump’s pick for the nation’s highest court.
Asked by Democrat Dianne Feinstein if it was possible she was mistaken, she said: “Absolutely not.” She said her strongest memory of the alleged incident, was the “uproarious laughter between” Mr Kavanaugh and a friend she said was also in a bedroom at the party. She said the laughter had haunted her ever since.
“Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was so drunk, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit under my clothes. I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help,” she said.
“When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming. This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.”
Mr Trump is desperate for Mr Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the bench so that Republicans can use it in their campaign for the midterm elections. A number of Mr Trump’s supporters, in particular evangelical Christians, have said last year’s confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, another conservative, was the president’s most important action since entering the White House.
Mr Trump, who campaigned for the White House saying he wanted to appoint justices who were open to pushing back landmark rulings such as Roe v Wade, which guarantees the right to an abortion, has said appointing someone to the bench is one of the most significant actions a president can take.
It was reported that Mr Trump spent much of the day watching the hearing on Capitol Hill, so much so that he postponed a meeting he was due to hold with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, the man who is overseeing the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s alleged election interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
After South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, delivered a stinging attack on his Democratic colleagues for making Mr Kavanaugh to go through “hell”, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted: “Lindsey Graham has more decency and courage than every Democrat member of the committee combined. God bless him.”
Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, have accused Mr Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the 1980s. Ms Ramirez accused Mr Kavanaugh of exposing himself during a drunken dormitory party during the 1983-84 academic year when both attended Yale University.
Ms Swetnick claims she witnessed efforts by Mr Kavanaugh and others to get girls drunk at parties so they could be gang raped. She alleged Mr Kavanaugh was present at a 1982 party where she was raped. Mr Kavanaugh has also denied these accusations.
While Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination must first be voted on by the committee – made up of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats – it must be confirmed by the full senate. It is believed several Republican senators, including Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, may vote against the nominee.
On Thursday Ms Murkowski told Reuters: “I find Dr Ford’s testimony to be credible."
