Under the glaring lights in a packed room on Capitol Hill, Christine Blasey Ford -- hardly accustomed to the back and forth of a Senate hearing -- breathed deeply, cracked the occasional joke and asked repeatedly for caffeine.
The university professor was at times clinical in her testimony about Brett Kavanaugh, the man chosen by US President Donald Trump to fill the ninth and pivotal seat on the Supreme Court, offering precise scientific explanations at key moments.
But when she explained her recollection of a house party in the early 1980s, a night when she says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, she offered searing details of the alleged attack in a quavering voice, the tears not far from the surface.
And the Senate Judiciary Committee room fell silent.
"I believed he was going to rape me," said Blasey Ford. "It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me."
- 'Terrified' -
At about 10 am, the 51-year-old Blasey Ford -- dressed in a sober blue suit, her blonde hair styled and her glasses reflecting the spotlights -- entered the room, its windows covered in dark drapes.
Before 21 senators, she answered questions for about three and a half hours about the assault she says happened 36 years ago when she and Kavanaugh attended high school in the Washington area.
Flanked by her attorneys, Blasey Ford seemed on the verge of tears multiple times, and admitted from the start in a halting voice: "I am terrified."
But she smiled broadly when she recognized some friendly faces in the audience of 48 guests -- limited in number for the occasion. Many of them were women.
As she launched into her account of that night in 1982, her voice again broke.
"I was pushed from behind into a bedroom across from the bathroom. I couldn't see who pushed me. Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them," she said.
"I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding into me."
The scientist in her came out in her description of her most vivid memory.
"Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two, and they are having fun at my expense," she said. "I was underneath one of them while the two laughed."
On the Republican side of the committee, the 11 male senators mainly kept quiet, ceding their time to a female sex crimes prosecutor from Arizona.
On the Democratic side, the 10 senators, four of them women, used most of their time to praise Blasey Ford's courage.
- Caffeine, please -
During the breaks in the hearing -- there were two during Blasey Ford's testimony -- friends came to offer a supportive pat on the shoulder or the head, or a brief hug.
Other victims of sexual assault in the room followed the proceedings intently, seemingly trying to offer support from afar.
The hearing was not without a few moments of levity.
Some students from the Holton-Arms all-girls school in nearby Bethesda that Blasey Ford attended relayed one by one into the hearing room to witness a bit of history in the one seat reserved for them.
"Our school teaches us to self-advocate, to use our voices and we're here to support Doctor Ford," said Zainab Jaffa, 17. "We're using our voice to support her."
From the start, Blasey Ford said with a smile that she needed some extra help to get through the hearing.
"I will do my best to answer your questions. And I would request some caffeine," she told Grassley.
First, a coffee cup was delivered to her. After that, a bottle of Coke appeared.
Under the glaring lights in a packed room on Capitol Hill, Christine Blasey Ford — hardly accustomed to the back and forth of a Senate hearing — breathed deeply, cracked the occasional joke and asked repeatedly for caffeine.
The university professor was at times clinical in her testimony about Brett Kavanaugh, the man chosen by US President Donald Trump to fill the ninth and pivotal seat on the Supreme Court, offering precise scientific explanations at key moments.
But when she explained her recollection of a house party in the early 1980s, a night when she says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, she offered searing details of the alleged attack in a quavering voice, the tears not far from the surface.
And the Senate Judiciary Committee room fell silent.
“I believed he was going to rape me,” said Blasey Ford. “It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.”
– ‘Terrified’ –
At about 10 am, the 51-year-old Blasey Ford — dressed in a sober blue suit, her blonde hair styled and her glasses reflecting the spotlights — entered the room, its windows covered in dark drapes.
Before 21 senators, she answered questions for about three and a half hours about the assault she says happened 36 years ago when she and Kavanaugh attended high school in the Washington area.
Flanked by her attorneys, Blasey Ford seemed on the verge of tears multiple times, and admitted from the start in a halting voice: “I am terrified.”
But she smiled broadly when she recognized some friendly faces in the audience of 48 guests — limited in number for the occasion. Many of them were women.
As she launched into her account of that night in 1982, her voice again broke.
“I was pushed from behind into a bedroom across from the bathroom. I couldn’t see who pushed me. Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them,” she said.
“I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding into me.”
The scientist in her came out in her description of her most vivid memory.
“Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two, and they are having fun at my expense,” she said. “I was underneath one of them while the two laughed.”
On the Republican side of the committee, the 11 male senators mainly kept quiet, ceding their time to a female sex crimes prosecutor from Arizona.
On the Democratic side, the 10 senators, four of them women, used most of their time to praise Blasey Ford’s courage.
– Caffeine, please –
During the breaks in the hearing — there were two during Blasey Ford’s testimony — friends came to offer a supportive pat on the shoulder or the head, or a brief hug.
Other victims of sexual assault in the room followed the proceedings intently, seemingly trying to offer support from afar.
The hearing was not without a few moments of levity.
Some students from the Holton-Arms all-girls school in nearby Bethesda that Blasey Ford attended relayed one by one into the hearing room to witness a bit of history in the one seat reserved for them.
“Our school teaches us to self-advocate, to use our voices and we’re here to support Doctor Ford,” said Zainab Jaffa, 17. “We’re using our voice to support her.”
From the start, Blasey Ford said with a smile that she needed some extra help to get through the hearing.
“I will do my best to answer your questions. And I would request some caffeine,” she told Grassley.
First, a coffee cup was delivered to her. After that, a bottle of Coke appeared.
