During a press conference on Thursday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) stated that she believes Christine Blasey Ford because “she is telling the truth.”
I believe Dr. Blasey Ford because she’s telling the truth. And you know it by her story; you know it by the fact that she told her therapist five years ago. It was documented at the time; we have the therapist’s notes. She told her husband. This is a trauma she’s been dealing with her whole life. She doesn’t want to be in a bedroom that doesn’t have two doors; people knew that about her a long time ago. She told a friend a year ago. She told a reporter before Judge Kavanaugh was ever named.
These are the hallmarks of truth. These are the hallmarks of someone who wants to be believed because she fears that if this person is confirmed, he will do terrible things for [American] women. She is concerned that he does not have the character, the integrity, the honesty to be a Supreme Court Justice.
I believe her because she’s telling the truth. She is asking the FBI to investigate her claims. She is asking for that kind of review, that investigative work, that oversight, that accountability because she’s telling the truth.
Someone who is lying does not ask the FBI to investigate their claims. Who is not asking the FBI to investigate these claims? The White House. Judge Kavanaugh has not asked to have the FBI review these claims. Is that the reaction of an innocent person? It is not. So we have to get to the bottom of this as Americans before we put someone on the Supreme Court for life.
An NPR fact-check states that the FBI cannot investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh unless Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) were to ask President Trump to get the bureau involved.
According to The Washington Post, which obtained portions of Ford’s therapist’s notes:
[The notes] do not mention Kavanaugh’s name but say she reported that she was attacked by students “from an elitist boys’ school” who went on to become “highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.” The notes say four boys were involved, a discrepancy Ford says was an error on the therapist’s part. Ford said there were four boys at the party but only two in the room.
Notes from an individual therapy session the following year, when she was being treated for what she says have been long-term effects of the incident, show Ford described a “rape attempt” in her late teens.
Ford’s husband, however, claims that his wife indeed mentioned Kavanaugh’s name in their therapy session, fearing that he “might one day be nominated to the Supreme Court.”
CNN reports that two close friends of Ford’s have stated that Ford feels uncomfortable in spaces in which only one exit is present. According to Jim Gensheimer, Ford has noted that she must have “more than one exit door in her bedroom to prevent her from being trapped.”
Judge Brett Kavanaugh has categorically denied Ford’s allegations, and has asked to testify in order to “clear [his] name” as soon as possible. He is currently slated to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as early as Monday.