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The Testimony that Gripped a Nation

September 30, 2018

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford took to the stands on Thursday morning, and it seemed as though every person in America watched as she testified. She set the stage for the nature of the proceedings with an extremely emotional opening statement, expressing her fear of testifying.

During Ford’s opening statement, she detailed the nature of the events that led up to the alleged assault, what happened during it and what came next. Ford was visibly distressed during these statements.

Instead of personally questioning Ford, Republicans yielded their time to Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell. Mitchell is known for her work with sex crimes victims, and for taking a generally nonpartisan approach to cases with a political nature.

After Ford’s testimony, Kavanaugh took the stand to testify. During this time, he was questioned by both Republicans and Democrats. Kavanaugh’s opening statement was emotional as well, though not in the same way as Ford’s, as Kavanaugh blatantly displayed his anger.

Kavanaugh received criticism for the way he responded to senators who questioned him, specifically Democratic senators. Often times he let his frustration slip, and brought in new concerns that his temperament is not fit for the Supreme Court. One specific example of this was his response to Senator Amy Klobuchar when she asked if he had ever before had so much to drink that he blacked out. He turned the question back to the senator, saying “Have you?”

After the whole day of testimony finished, questions on whether the Senate would  be allowed to vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation were up in the air, because he had to pass a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Friday. Many were uncertain that he would manage that after the testimony on Thursday, because senators might have voted against him after hearing the evidence against Kavanaugh.

Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said he would not vote unless the FBI performed an investigation on the alleged events, and there was none then he would vote against Kavanaugh. This was backed by Senators Joe Manchin, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, whose votes are not necessarily decided yet. The Senate Judiciary Committee then issued a formal request for this investigation to take place.

President Trump backed this investigation, and members of the Senate agreed to postpone Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote for one week while waiting for the FBI to conduct their investigation. Until then, it is unclear whether the once certain confirmation of Kavanaugh still remains certain.

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