GoFundMe donations for Christine Blasey Ford have skyrocketed since the she mentioned the campaigns during Thursday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Just two of the 17 accounts on the crowdfunding site relating to Ford have brought in nearly $700,000.
Answering questions concerning the funding for her legal team and travel since the allegations became public, Ford mentioned that she’d be collecting money donated to her from GoFundMe accounts. “I’m aware that there’s been several GoFundMe sites,” she said. “I haven’t had a chance to figure out how to manage those because I’ve never had one.”
One such account dedicated to Ford “jumped from about $179,000 to $305,000 and counting merely 30 minutes later, according to the publicly displayed funds counter,” reported MarketWatch on Thursday.
Those numbers have since spiked further. One account has collected over $475,000 for Ford’s legal fees and another has brought in over $200,000 for the accuser’s “security costs.”
During the testimony, Ford’s lawyers Michael Bromwich and Debra Katz said they were working pro bono and disclosed that they had paid for their client’s polygraph test after Ford said she did not know who paid for it.
Ford claims Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school when she was 15 and he was 17, some thirty-plus years ago. Her uncorroborated and refuted allegations do not include when or where exactly the alleged incident took place. Sen. Dianne Feinstein was first notified of the allegations in July via a letter sent by Ford, though the Democratic senator curiously sat on the allegations for weeks.
Kavanaugh has flatly denied the allegations repeatedly. The three other potential witnesses named by Ford have denied any knowledge of the alleged assault.
