Brett Kavanaugh: Republicans push for US Supreme Court vote

Republicans are pushing to vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee for the US Supreme Court on Friday, after hearing dramatic testimony from him and a woman accusing him of sexual assault.

Brett Kavanaugh emphatically denied all allegations against him and vowed he would never give up.

Earlier, Christine Blasey Ford said an assault by Mr Kavanaugh 36 years ago had “drastically” affected her life.

Mr Trump said Mr Kavanaugh was “honest” and called for a Senate vote.

The president accused Democratic senators of a “search and destroy strategy”, while Mr Kavanaugh accused them of destroying his family and good name for political reasons.

Thursday’s hearing, which lasted for nine hours, brought an outpouring of support for Ms Ford from the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to go ahead with a previously scheduled vote on Friday, though there is doubt whether Republicans have the votes in the full Senate to see the conservative nominee confirmed into the US’s highest court. The full Senate vote would not take place before the middle of next week.

The Supreme Court plays a vital role in US political life – appointed for life, its nine members have the final say on US law.

This includes highly contentious social issues, such as abortion, and challenges to government policy.

What did Christine Blasey Ford say?

Prior to Thursday, no-one had heard from 51-year-old Dr Ford publicly since the allegations arose.

After addresses by the leading Republican and Democrat senators, Dr Ford delivered her statement, at times close to tears.

“I am here today not because I want to be,” she said. “I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.”

She alleged Mr Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge had locked her in a bedroom during a small gathering at a house in a Washington DC suburb in the summer of 1982, when she was 15 and Mr Kavanaugh was 17.

She said Mr Kavanaugh had tried to remove her clothing, pinned her to a bed and groped her. Both men were “drunkenly laughing”, she said.

She added: “Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life. For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details.”

BBC