How to Watch the Senate Testimony of Dr. Christine Blacy Ford Tomorrow
Before Brett Cavanaugh can accept a life-long appointment to the country’s highest court, he must appear publicly before one of three women who recently accused him of sexual assault. Dr. Christine Blacy Ford will appear before the Senate Judicial Committee on Thursday morning, and if you’re planning to watch the hearing, here’s what to know and how to tune in.
By now, most people know that Dr. Christine Blacy Ford, professor of statistics at the University of Palo Alto, accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Cavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge of raping her at a party in 1982. Ford and Judge Cavanaugh will answer questions about the allegations at the closing hearings of the confirmation hearings for Cavanaugh. (Mark Judge, the only eyewitness, declined to testify.) Here are the people who will be asking the questions:
- Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee members: Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Christopher A. Koons (Germany), Richard Blumenthal (Germany), Mazi Hirono (Netherlands), Corey Booker (NJ) and Kamala Harris (Germany).
- Rachel Mitchell, a Maricopa County, Arizona-based sex crime attorney hired by Republican judges to interrogate Dr. Ford and Cavanaugh in their place.
That’s right – exactly zero Republican senators will not participate in the interrogation. According to committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), hiring Ms Mitchell as a full-time advisor should “de-politicize the process and get to the bottom of the truth.” It looks more like a transparent attempt to uncover the optics of eleven old white guys accusing women of sexual assault, but hey, this is better than Plan A. (To be clear, Republican Plan A called for female employees to do their jobs for them.)
Tomorrow’s sessions begin at 10 a.m. ET, and Dr. Ford is to testify first. If you want to watch them, C-SPAN 3 will televise the entire hearing, and live broadcasts will be available through most major news networks. No cable entry is required for ABC News , C-SPAN, and CBS News streams, and PBS NewsHour will be streaming the hearings on YouTube.