It’s a bombshell! It’s a game-changer. It shows that Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation against Judge Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed, except that it doesn’t. On the eve of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ford’s legal team have released witness statements that would have more use serving as place mats.
Ms. Ford has alleged that a drunken 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a high school party, for which she has no recollection of key details, specifically how she got to this party, who hosted it, and who organized it. Ford penned a letter detailing this allegation, which she sent to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) office in July. DiFi sat on it for weeks, keeping it from her Senate colleagues until zero hour when it looked like Kavanaugh was going to get a smooth confirmation. The theatrics at the hearings were over. Of course, this allegation cannot be verified. And that’s the point: it’s all designed to run out the clock (via USA Today):
These are not corroboration
— Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) September 26, 2018
They are statements that 30 years later she mentioned this to them
Narrative over truth I guess https://t.co/svuU4UA031
do you know what "corroborating" actually means https://t.co/xoyjERhQzw
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) September 26, 2018
Which one of Peter’s intelligent journalist colleagues wants to inform him on what the word corroborate means? https://t.co/cSTCXBvDkv
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 26, 2018
This is corroboration that she told people about her contemporaneously-uncorroborated memory — after she first shared/re-surfaced it, 30 years after the alleged incident. All 4 people she places at the party (including her lifelong female friend) do not corroborate her memory. https://t.co/LeU8Y4tzQu
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 26, 2018
The attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford have sworn and signed declarations from four people who corroborate her claims of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In documents sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee and obtained by USA TODAY, Ford’s attorneys present declarations from Ford’s husband, Russell, and three friends who support the California college professor’s accusation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to pull off her clothes while both were high school students in 1982.
[…]
In her declaration, Adela Gildo-Mazzon said Ford told her about the alleged assault during a June 2013 meal at a restaurant in Mountain View, California, and contacted Ford’s attorneys on Sept. 16 to tell them Ford had confided in her five years ago.
“During our meal, Christine was visibly upset, so I asked her what was going on,” Gildo-Mazzon said in her declaration. “Christine told me she had been having a hard day because she was thinking about an assault she experienced when she was much younger. She said she had been almost raped by someone who was now a federal judge. She told me she had been trapped in a room with two drunken guys, and that she had escaped, ran away and hid.”
[...]
In another declaration, Keith Koegler said Ford revealed the alleged assault to him in 2016, when the two parents were watching their children play in a public place and discussing the “light” sentencing of Stanford University student Brock Turner.
“Christine expressed anger at Mr. Turner’s lenient sentence, stating that she was particularly bothered by it because she was assaulted in high school by a man who was now a federal judge in Washington, D.C.,” Koegler said.
Christine did not mention the assault to me again until June 29, 2018, two days after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation from the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said.
On that day, Koegler said Ford revealed to him in an email that the person who had assaulted her in high school was President Donald Trump’s “favorite for SCOTUS.”
In his response email, Koegler wrote, “I remember you telling me about him, but I don’t remember his name. Do you mind telling me so I can read about him?”
Ford’s emailed response: “Brett Kavanaugh.”
[…]
In another declaration, Rebecca White, a neighbor and friend of more than six years, said Ford revealed the alleged assault against her in 2017.
“I was walking my dog and Christine was outside of her house,” White said. “I stopped to speak with her, and she told me she had read a recent social media post I had written about my own experience with sexual assault.
“She then told me that when she was a young teen, she had been sexually assaulted by an older teen,” White continued. “I remember her saying that her assailant was now a federal judge.”
All from after 2012, except husband. Not a great deal that's new. https://t.co/jZkQELNlbE
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) September 26, 2018
And people are calling it “corroboration.” I don’t think they know what the word means.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) September 26, 2018
Correct. The have offered four people who say she once told them about misconduct, decades after it happened. That is not proof that it happened. If i told you i had flown to Pluto and you swore that i told you i had flown to Pluto, it doesn't mean i flew to Pluto. https://t.co/0WdzzMeUNy
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 26, 2018
This is not corroborating Ford’s accusation. It’s merely confirmation that she told a lot of people about this alleged, still-evidence-free, and witness-lacking allegation of attempted sexual assault that occurred during high school some 30-plus years ago, but that's all. These people weren't at this party, that may or may not have happened. It’s an unprovable allegation meant to run out the clock. Ms. Ford will have her day to tell her story tomorrow. Brace yourselves.