38. David Catron, “Did Christine Blasey Ford Use Anonymity to ‘Get’ Kavanaugh?” The American Spectator, September 17, 2018, https://spectator.org/did-christine-blasey-ford-use-anonymity-to-get-kavanaugh/.
39. Jessica Contrera, Ian Shapira, Emma Brown, and Steve Hendrix, “Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford moved 3,000 Miles to reinvent her life. It wasn’t far enough,” Washington Post, September 27, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/christine-blasey-ford-wanted-to-flee-the-us-to-avoid-brett-kavanaugh-now-she-may-testify-against-him/2018/09/22/db942340-bdb1-11e8-8792-78719177250f_story.html.
Chapter Nine: Miracle
1. “Prepared Written Testimony of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh,” Nomination Hearing to Serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, September 27, 2018, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BK%20Written%20Testimony%20-%20Submitted%20Sept%2026.pdf.
2. For a vivid description of Thomas’s hearings, see Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather’s Son, a Memoir, (New York: Harper Collins, 2007).
3. 2 Corinthians 12:10.
4. Matthew 26: 39.
5. Thomas, My Grandfather’s Son, 257.
6. Senate Judiciary Committee, Nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Pt. 4. (Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1993), 8.
7. Ibid., 157.
8. Ibid., 158.
9. Thomas, My Grandfather’s Son, 271.
10. Megan Brenan, “Gallup Vault: Anita Hill’s Charges Against Clarence Thomas,” Gallup News, September 21, 2018, https://news.gallup.com/vault/242417/gallup-vault-anita-hill-charges-against-clarence-thomas.aspx.
11. Video and transcript available at “American Rhetoric: Movie Speech ‘Miracle’ (2004),” https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechmiracle2.html.
12. The transcript of the hearing will be cited throughout this chapter. “Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Day 5, Focusing on Allegations of Sexual Assault, Part 2,” CQ Transcriptions, September 27, 2018.
13. Lester Holt, News4 at 4, NBC News via archive.org, September 27, 2018, https://archive.org/details/WRC_20180927_200000_News4_at_4/start/660/end/720.
14. Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd, News4 at 4, NBC News via archive.org, September 27, 2018, https://archive.org/details/WRC_20180927_200000_News4_at_4/.
15. Chris Spargo, “Brett Kavanaugh testimony divides pundits, with some calling his remarks ‘gut-wrenching’ and others declaring the Supreme Court nominee a ‘liar’ and ‘unhinged,’ ” Daily Mail, September 27, 2018, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6216707/Brett-Kavanaugh-testimony-divides-pundits-calling-remarks-gut-wrenching-lies.html.
16. Jeffrey Toobin, The Lead With Jake Tapper, CNN via archive.org, September 27, 2018, https://archive.org/details/CNNW_20180927_200000_The_Lead_With_Jake_Tapper/start/1103/end/1163.
17. Brian Fallon (@brianefallon), “If Senate GOP ignores Dr. Blasey Ford and tries to muscle an attempted rapist onto the Supreme Court: 1. They will pay dearly this November. 2. Senators up in 2020 (Collins, Gardner et al) will feel intense heat for next two years. 3. Kavanaugh will not serve for life.” Twitter, September 27, 2018, 4:16 p.m., https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1045452225454239744.
18. The plan had always been for senators to take over when Mitchell was done. Her role was not to help Kavanaugh to defend himself through her questioning, nor was it to cross-examine him. It was impossible to continue questioning the nominee for the remainder of the hearing about an incident he said had not taken place and for which there was no evidence apart from Ford’s bald assertion. But Mitchell was unaware of the procedure to cede control of the questioning back to the senators, and worried that if she asked only her remaining short questions at the outset of a five-minute block that she might forfeit the remainder of that time. So she signaled she was done just before Senator Graham’s segment began.
19. Samuel Chamberlain, “Kavanaugh’s prep school friends say ‘Devil’s Triangle’ was a drinking game,” Fox News, October 4, 2018, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kavanaughs-prep-school-friends-say-devils-triangle-was-a-drinking-game.
20. “Feinstein: I Didn’t Ask My Staff But I Know They Didn’t Leak Ford’s Allegation,” Grabien, https://grabien.com/story.php?id=196259.
Chapter Ten: The Anteroom Where It Happened
1. Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino), “Flake will vote to confirm Kavanaugh,” Twitter, September 28, 2018, 6:27 a.m., https://twitter.com/laurenegambino/status/1045666220077445121/.
2. Manu Raju (@mkraju), “Flake is torn: ‘They both did well and he offered a defense like you would expect from someone who felt that they were wrongly accused. And she offered compelling testimony as well. But I have to go with what is the standard here. Where is the burden. It’s tough’ @TheOtherKeppler,” Twitter, September 27, 2018, 6:06 pm, https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1045479744987435008; Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs), “Jeff Flake was one senator Bush talked with—and the former president urged a ‘yes’ vote, I’m told,” Twitter, September 27, 2018, 8:03 p.m., https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1045509283020976128.
3. Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders), “.@JeffFlake is a YES on Kavanaugh. @SunlenSerfaty broke that news to Sen. Coons in the hallway as he walked into the hearing. Coons said, ‘Oh f—k,’ then choked up, ‘We each make choices for our own reason. I’m struggling, sorry.’ ” Twitter, September 28, 2018, 6:35 a.m., https://twitter.com/ElizLanders/status/1045668429364187136.
4. Open Society Foundations, “Citizen Engagement Laboratory,” https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/programs/us-programs/grantees/citizen-engagement-laboratory-1. UltraViolet claims to have trained three hundred of the protesters who confronted senators in the hallways during the Kavanaugh fight. Their financial structure is similar to Demand Justice—they were “incubated” by a parallel donor stream, the Soros-funded Citizen Engagement Laboratory.
5. CNN, “Tearful woman confronts Senator Flake on elevator,” CNN via YouTube, September 28, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bshgOZ8QQxU.
6. Suzanne Malveaux, “The elevator moment: when to speak up, when to stay quiet, and the power of both,” CNN, September 30, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/30/politics/suzanne-malveaux-reporters-notebook-jeff-flake-elevator/index.html.
7. CNN, “Tearful woman confronts Senator Flake.”
8. Brett Samuels, “FBI concludes interview of Mark Judge,” The Hill, October 2, 2018, https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/409437-fbi-concludes-interview-of-mark-judge.
9. Jack Crowe, “American Bar Association Backs Kavanaugh Despite Previous Letter to the Contrary,” National Review, October 1, 2018, https://www.nationalreview.com/news/american-bar-association-backs-kavanaugh-despite-previous-letter-to-the-contrary/.
10. Manu Raju, “American Bar Association: Delay Kavanaugh until FBI investigates assault allegations,” CNN, October 2, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/27/politics/kavanaugh-american-bar-association/index.html.
11. Meg Wagner, Brian Ries, Paul P. Murphy, Sophie Tatum and Jessie Yeung, “Brett Kavanaugh nomination faces delay,” CNN, September 28, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/kavanaugh-senate-committee-vote/h_81a14e48dc39350455a028858cba4065.
12. “Senate Judiciary Meeting On Brett Kavanaugh Nomination,” Supreme Court Confirmation, C-SPAN, September 28, 2018, https://www.c-span.org/video/?452084-1/senator-flake-calls-delaying-kavanaugh-vote-fbi-background-check-reopen.
13. Sue Reisinger, “Institute for Legal Reform Adds Beltway Insider John Abegg to Help Lead Legal Team,” Association of Corporate Counsel, May 2, 2019, https://www.law.com/corpcounsel/2019/05/02/institute-for-legal-reform-adds-beltway-insider-john-abegg-to-help-lead-legal-team/; “Harold Kim Promoted to Chief Operating Officer,” U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, May 1, 2019, https://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/resource/us-chamber-institute-for-legal-reform-welcomes-former-chief-counsel-for-se
n-majority-leader-mitch-mcconnell.
14. “Senate Judiciary Meeting On Brett Kavanaugh Nomination,” Supreme Court Confirmation, C-SPAN.
15. “Statement from the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Committee on the Judiciary website, September 28, 2018, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/statement-from-the-senate-judiciary-committee.
16. Eugene Robinson, “Senators to Begin Vote on Kavanaugh Tomorrow Morning,” Deadline Whitehouse, MSNBC via archive.org, October 4, 2018, https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20181004_200000_Deadline_White_House/start/1560/end/1620.
17. Ken Dilanian, Geoff Bennett, and Kristen Welker, “Limits to FBI’s Kavanaugh investigation have not changed, despite Trump’s comments,” NBC News, September 29, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/white-house-limits-scope-fbi-s-investigation-allegations-against-brett-n915061.
18. Brooke Singman, “Grassley taunts Bernie Sanders in salty response to Kavanaugh probe letter,” Fox News, October 1, 2018, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/grassley-taunts-bernie-sanders-in-salty-response-to-kavanaugh-probe-letter.
19. Grace Segers, “Nancy Pelosi calls Brett Kavanaugh ‘hysterical,’ says he is unfit to serve on the Supreme Court,” CBS News, September 29, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nancy-pelosi-calls-brett-kavanaugh-hysterical-says-he-is-unfit-to-serve-on-the-supreme-court/.
20. Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko, “Nominee’s attack on Democrats poses risk to Supreme Court,” Associated Press News, September 29, 2018, https://apnews.com/29557f45334f470fb55bce5dacba591a.
21. Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos), “Rachel Mitchell, Republican’s outside questioner, privately told GOP senators tonight that based on the evidence she heard at the hearing, she would not have prosecuted or even been able to obtain a search warrant, according to three Republicans,” Twitter, September 27, 2018, 7:25 p.m., https://twitter.com/npfandos/status/1045499632657354752.
22. The Mitchell memorandum will be cited throughout this section. Rachel Mitchell, Nominations Investigative Counsel, “Memorandum re: Analysis of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s Allegations,” September 30, 2018, https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4952137/Rachel-Mitchell-s-analysis.pdf.
23. John Cornyn interview, “Sen. Cornyn Joins the Five,” The Five, FOX News, October 4, 2018, https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20181004_210000_The_Five/start/2460/end/2520.
24. Peter Baker and Michael S. Schmidt, “Trump Allows Wider Review of Kavanaugh,” New York Times, October 2, 2018, A1.
25. Mike McIntire, Linda Qiu, Steve Eder and Kate Kelly, “Defense From Judge Misleads And Veers Off Course at Times,” New York Times, September 29, 2018, A1.
26. Thomas Lipscomb, “Records Raise Questions About Ford’s Double-Door Story,” RealClearPolitics, October 2, 2018, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/10/02/records_raise_questions_about_fords_double-door_story__138225.html.
27. “Sylvia Adkins Randall,” Psychology Today, October 3, 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/sylvia-adkins-randall-west-linn-or/7021.
28. The Swetnick interview will be quoted throughout this section. “Julie Swetnick speaks about alleged behavior by Judge Kavanaugh,” Interview by Kate Snow, MSNBC, October 1, 2018, https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/julie-swetnick-speaks-about-alleged-behavior-by-judge-kavanaugh-1334265923929. Transcript available at “FBI expanding probe into Kavanaugh. TRANSCRIPT: 10/1/2018, The Best w Ari Melber,” MSNBC, October 1, 2018, http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/msnbc-live-with-ari-melber/2018-10-01.
29. Aryssa Damron, “MSNBC Legal Analyst: Swetnick’s Allegation Against Kavanaugh Is ‘Not Credible’ and ‘Should Go Away,’ ” The Washington Free Beacon, October 2, 2018, https://freebeacon.com/politics/msnbc-legal-analyst-swetnicks-allegation-kavanaugh-not-credible-go-away/.
30. Richard Blumenthal et al., Letter to Don McGahn and Christopher Wray, October 1, 2018, https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/9/2/92e7876b-670e-48c7-9b55-b66b09c7ad4e/D70322512DA91E37F4B966721A744469.fbi-and-whi-re-fbi-investigation-klobuchar-witnesses.pdf.
31. Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti), Twitter, October 2, 2018, https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1047226356831059970.
32. Kate Snow and Anna Schecter, “New Questions raised about Avenatti claim regarding Kavanaugh,” NBC News, October 25, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/new-questions-raised-about-avenatti-claims-regarding-kavanaugh-n924596.
33. Office of the Chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, “Senate Judiciary Committee Investigation of Numerous Allegations Against Justice Brett Kavanaugh During the Senate Confirmation Proceedings,” Exhibit 51.
34. Elizabeth Bazelon and Ben Protess, “At Beery Yale, Curses, Fists, Glass, Blood And a Student,” New York Times, October 2, 2018, A13.
35. Andrew Kugle, “Hirono: Kavanaugh Throwing Ice at Someone in College is ‘Very Relevant,’ Reason FBI Must Investigate,” The Washington Free Beacon, October 2, 2018, https://freebeacon.com/politics/hirono-kavanaugh-throwing-ice-college-relevant-reason-fbi-investigate/.
36. David Bauder, “Times says it was wrong to have writer on Kavanaugh story,” AP News, October 2, 2018, https://apnews.com/9de214e064cd4f58b328b63d645d41d3.
37. Heidi Przybyla and Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Text messages suggest Kavanaugh wanted to refute accuser’s claim before it became public,” NBC News, October 1, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/mutual-friend-ramirez-kavanaugh-anxious-come-forward-evidence-n915566.
38. The Judiciary Committee included the text exchange as an exhibit in its November 2 memorandum regarding the Kavanaugh confirmation. They also indicated that committee investigators discussed the texts by phone with her on October 3, although Berchem still continued to falsely claim she had not been contacted by the committee. The Yarasavage-Berchem texts are quoted throughout this section. Office of the Chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, “Senate Judiciary Committee Investigation of Numerous Allegations Against Justice Brett Kavanaugh During the Senate Confirmation Proceedings,” Exhibit 31, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-11-02%20Kavanaugh%20Report.pdf.
39. Ibid., Exhibit 50, Transcript of Kavanaugh Phone Interview, 17.
40. Nancy Dillon, “Letter reveals what Yale alum saw at Brett Kavanaugh‘s frat house that ‘shocked’ him,” Daily News, October 2, 2018, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-news-tad-low-report-kavanaugh-frat-20181002-story.html.
41. Jack Crowe, “Grassley Smacks Down Latest Kavanaugh Allegation,” National Review, October 2, 2018, https://www.nationalreview.com/news/chuck-grassley-smacks-down-latest-brett-kavanaugh-allegation/.
42. BlazeTV (@BlazeTV), “PROTESTOR: “If he would [take] a polygraph, this would be all over, Senator Graham.” GRAHAM: “Why don’t we dunk him in water and see if he floats.” Who is this new @LindseyGrahamSC!?!?!” Twitter, October 4, 2018, 8:53 a.m., https://twitter.com/BlazeTV/status/1047877264434589698.
Chapter Eleven: Mrs. Collins Goes to Washington
1. Jeffrey Cimmino, “McConnell Hammers Dems on Kavanaugh Nomination: ‘Their Goalposts Keep Shifting, but Their Goal Hasn’t Moved an Inch,’ ” The Washington Free Beacon, October 1, 2018, https://freebeacon.com/politics/mcconnell-hammers-dems-moving-goalposts-kavanaugh-nomination/.
2. Nikki Schwab, “Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony,” New York Post, October 2, 2018, https://nypost.com/2018/10/02/trump-mocks-christine-blasey-fords-senate-testimony/.
3. E.J. Dionne Jr., “Trump’s lying, mocking, despicable verbal mugging of Christine Blasey Ford,” Washington Post, October 3, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-lying-mocking-despicable-verbal-mugging-of-christine-blasey-ford/2018/10/03/7906e5a4-c73a-11e8-9b1c-a90f1daae309_story.html.
4. Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow, “The F.B.I Probe Ignored Testimonies From Former Classmates of Kavanaugh,” New Yorker, October 3, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/will-the-fbi-ignore-testimonies-from-kavanaughs-former-classmates.
5. Natalie Andrews, Rebecca Ballhau
s, and Sadie Gurman, “Friend of Dr. Ford Felt Pressure to Revisit Statement,” Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/friend-of-dr-ford-felt-pressure-to-revisit-statement-1538715152.
6. Terry Moran (@TerryMoran), “WRONG. Monica Mclean, retired FBI SSA and friend of Ford, gave @ABC this statement: “I have NEVER had Christine Blasey Ford, or anybody else, prepare me, or provide any other type of assistance whatsoever in connection with any polygraph exam I have taken at anytime.” Twitter, October 3, 2018, 7:13 a.m., https://twitter.com/terrymoran/status/1047489913720115202.
7. Laura Collins, “Leland Keyser told the FBI she felt pressured by friends of Christine Ford to revise her statement saying she didn’t remember the party where Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted Ford–not that it had never happened,” Daily Mail, October 5, 2018, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6244715/Leland-Keyser-told-FBI-felt-pressured-friends-Christine-Ford-revise-statement.html.
8. Sara Corcoran, “Opinion: An Open Letter to Leland Ingham Keyser,” Daily Caller, October 1, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/01/letter-leland-ingham-keyser/.
9. Psalm 34:5.
10. John Paul Stevens, “Former Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court,” C-SPAN, October 4, 2018, https://www.c-span.org/video/?451375-1/retired-justice-stevens-judge-kavanaughs-hearing-performance-disqualifying.
11. Brett Kavanaugh, “I Am an Independent, Impartial Judge,” Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-am-an-independent-impartial-judge-1538695822.
12. Erik Brady, “Opinion: Is Brett Kavanaugh right that he can no longer coach girls basketball?” USA Today, September 28, 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/erik-brady/2018/09/28/brett-kavanaugh-right-he-can-no-longer-coach-girls-basketball/1459496002/; Erik Wemple, “USA Today essentially retracts Kavanaugh-shouldn’t-coach piece,” Washington Post, October 1, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/10/01/usa-today-essentially-retracts-kavanaugh-shouldnt-coach-opinion-piece/?utm_term=.60cfacb0ff42.
Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court Page 41