that s what you re telling me when you vote for him. don t look away from me. look at me and tell me that it doesn t matter what happened to me. ana maria ar chi la joins us now. thanks so much for being with us. i m wondering when you made the decision to confront senator flake. at that point, were you aware of his intention to confirm judge kavanaugh? i ve been coming to the capitol for the last seven weeks to protest the nomination of judge kavanaugh because i believe he s dangerous for our country. he s dangerous for the rights of women to choose what we do with our bodies, dangerous to our health care. and a few days ago, i stood in front of his office and told for the first time my own story of sexual violence when i was a child, as a 5-year-old. and it was an incredibly painful moment. i did it because i felt like the country needs to hear these stories. i did it in solidarity with dr. ford, and i did it to
that brett kavanaugh is telling the truth? did you see his face? and you have to listen to what ana maria ar chi la told anderson cooper tonight when he asked whether she thinks that protest made a difference. i think if it had been just one story, my story and maria s story, it would not have made a difference. it was the fact that it was thousands of people, thousands of stories, and dr. ford herself. and i felt a sense of relief and a sense of possibility. i was reminded that it is through kind of us standing for ourselves, for our lives, for the lives of others that we make change in this country. courage. those women are courageous. christine blasey ford is courageous. and courage is contagious. let s hope it s contagious.
senator flake telling cnn tonight that that protest played a part in his decision to call for an fbi investigation. his statement saying that he would vote to confirm judge kavanaugh with no conditions was released a little before 9:30 this morning. then moments later at about 9:31, he was confronted by ana maria ar chi la and maria gallagher as he was on his way to the panel s scheduled vote. after listening, visibly uncomfortable, as though two women poured their hearts out, senator flake demanded a one-week fbi investigation of the sexual assault allegations against judge kavanaugh. and now president trump has agreed. but all this is really it s far from over. there are real questions still to be addressed here, questions about judge kavanaugh s truthfulness, his truthfulness about teenage drinking. the drinking age as i noted
protect my children. and today i went back to his office, you know, around 8:30 in the morning with maria, who i had just met, in the hopes that maybe we could talk to him. right before we saw him, we saw the announcement from his office that he was getting ready to vote for kavanaugh to the supreme court. so both of us were just enraged, and all the emotions that we have been holding for the last several weeks came out pouring. my demand of him to think of his children and think of my children, her demand of him to listen to her story and tell her whether her story matters and whether he s okay putting someone that has violated women in the supreme court. when you were in that moment, i mean did you know what you wanted to say? had you thought about it beforehand? i m wondering what you saw of the reaction from senator flake. it s one thing for us to see it on television. you re looking at him, trying to look at him in the eye. i mean honestly, i had literally just read the headli
to close and that conversation to end. and i wanted of him to really stay there and be present and think of the people he loves, think of his children, and i wanted him to be a hero, to show up for his children, for my children, for myself, for maria, for the women that have been telling our stories, and to vote with his conscience. and i wanted him to i had gone to his office because i thought he might he might be willing to take a step that was beyond, you know, kind of the desire of his party. and i think he was moved but not just by our story. he actually was moved by the stories and the actions of women and people that have been coming to d.c. for weeks. people from the women s march, people from organizations like ultraviolet, and other and people who have just shown up. i think that he has an opportunity to show the kind of leadership that we all deserve,