6 Critical Moments in Senate Testimony: Ford '100 Percent Certain,' Kavanaugh Swears Innocence Before God
1. Ford Details the Alleged Attempted Rape
Ford detailed the attempted rape, which she says occurred in the summer of 1982 in Maryland at a small house gathering.
Ford said that there were four boys in the house, namely Kavanaugh, his friend Mark Judge, another boy named P.J., and a fourth whose name she could not recall. Her female friend Leland Keyser also attended the gathering, Ford said.
Ford admitted she could not recall all the details from the night, but said she remembered that both Kavanaugh and Judge were visibly drunk. She said that she was pushed by them into a bedroom on the second floor of the house, and they locked the door behind them.
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"I was pushed onto the bed, and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding into me. I yelled, hoping that someone downstairs might hear me, and I tried to get away from him but his weight was heavy," the California professor alleged.
"Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time, because he was very inebriated, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit underneath my clothing," she added. "I believed he was going to rape me."
Ford continued: "I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from yelling. This is 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."
She said that Judge seemed to both urge his friend on, but at other times told him to stop.
"During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. And the last time that he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me. I was able to get up and run out of the room," she said.
"Directly across from the bedroom was a small bathroom. I ran inside the bathroom and locked the door. I waited until I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom, laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairway, pinballing off the walls on the way down."
Ford explained that when she did not hear them come back up the stairs, she left the bathroom, went down the stairwell, and left the house.
Following the testimony, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., asked Ford to clarify to what degree of certainty does she believe it was Kavanaugh who assaulted her, and would rule out a case of mistaken identity.
"100 percent," Ford answered.
