"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!" Trump tweeted late Thursday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Friday morning to advance the nominee.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2018
The fierce hearing lasted more than eight hours. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford gave a compelling testimony this morning after sharing her concerns about Kavanaugh in a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein earlier this summer, disclosing that Kavanaugh had attempted to rape her 36 years ago. Later in the day, Kavanaugh shared his view that Ford may have been sexually assaulted at some point, but he categorically denied that he had ever attempted to rape either Ford or anyone else.
Kavanaugh described the past 10 days since the allegations came to light as "hell and then some." Since Ford's allegations surfaced, multiple people have accused him of sexual assault. He says all these claims are false.
"This confirmation process has become a national disgrace," the judge said during his testimony, while at another point directing ire at senators when he said: "You have replaced ‘advise and consent' with ‘search and destroy.'"
But Ford maintains that she knows "100 percent" that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her. He says he wasn't at the party in which the assault is said to have occurred, which happened more than 30 years ago and where alcohol was involved. Only two witnesses provided testimony to the Senate about the alleged incident on Thursday, creating a "he-said, she-said" scenario.
Ford said, though, "I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his 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 Brett was going to accidentally kill me."
The two individuals did not testify in the same room simultaneously. Ford's testimony occurred Thursday morning while Kavanaugh's started in the afternoon.
Senator Lindsey Graham voiced strong remarks as well, calling Kavanaugh's nomination process "the most unethical sham I've seen since I've been in politics."
