Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim

Im not an activist, and i look at this and see this in a completely different way than you see it. And i think these people should be taken seriously. The problem is, this would be quite a conspiracy for her to have been telling her therapist in 2012 about this, for her having discussed this with a friend in 2013. I mean, thats an amazing conspiracy on the part of the democrats. The name was mentioned to her husband, and she told three other people who have done sworn affidavits that it was a person who was currently a pral federal judge and someone she went to high school with. Thats an amazing conspiracy for the democrats to have known in the future this was going to happen. The other thing is, if this is what democrats do, then why didnt they do it to neil gorsu gorsuch, who went to georgetown prep, and nobody can seriously suggest democrats werent upset about that seat after what happened to merrick garland. And so but see, its a seat that was stolen in their eyes from the democrats. So they would have been very upset. And this is what they do. Then they would have made accusations. As tough as they fought against gorsuch, this seat was going to be the seat. Lets go back to the idea, so the accusation is that women, that multiple, are actually destroying their own lives. Like, i dont know any woman who would do this. A woman who, and i know a lot of people who care a lot about the court and who are very upset about it. I dont know any woman at the level of these women with careers, one who has high ranking position in the government, who could lose a security clearance, who could lose her entire life, shes 50, at the prime of her career, that shes going to destroy her entire life and lie and possibly go to jail . This is just an incredible accusation. Six fbi background checks. And if you believe the last accuser, the one that says he was serially involved in gang raping people over a threeyear period of time. Nobody said he was serially gang raping people, that he was aware of it. He facilitated tt and it was aware of it, and he was the staff secretary to the pridz of the United States, and youre telling me the fbi wouldnt have found anything. The most recent staff secretary, the fbi had that information. And youre just suggesting the fbi is completely incompetent by the way, she has just sat down. Its not plausible. This is the first time we have seen live images of professor Christine Blasey ford. We have seen occasional still photographs, but here she is sitting down in the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing room. You see there, shes with her legal team. I believe thats debra katz on the left, and there we have a closeup thats michael bromlch, who also represented andrew mccabe, the fired fbi deputy director. And theres Christine Blasey ford, the professor we have seen so much about, the first film images of her yet. This hearing is going to begin momentarily. One thing about chuck grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, he starts these hearings pretty much on time. They said 10 00 a. M. Its now 10 04. He will make his Opening Statement, the chairman. The ranking democrat, dianne feinstein, will make an Opening Statement, and she will be sworn in, professor Christine Blasey ford. She will be sworn in. She will testify under oath. She will then make her Opening Statement. Jake, and then they will rotate between republicans and democrats, five minutes each. And we cant underline this enough. So much is at stake depending on how credibly how credible dr. Christine blasey fords testimony is, how credible she comes across. The same thing with judge kavanaugh, who will be appearing p seat is in the balance. We do not know how credible she will seem. But in conversations with democrats and republicans this week, nobody knew, and here we have the gavel and the hearing beginning. This morning, we continue our hearing on the nomination of judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as associate justice on our Supreme Court. We will hear from two witnesses. Dr. Christine blasey ford and judge kavanaugh. Thanks, of course, to dr. Ford and judge kavanaugh for accepting our committees invitation to testify and also thank them for their volunteering to testify before we even invited. Both dr. Ford and judge kavanaugh have been through a terrible couple weeks. They and their families have received vile threats. What they have endured ought to be considered by all of us as unacceptable and a poor reflection on the state of civility in our democracy. So i want to apologize to you both for the way youve been treated. And i intend hopefully for todays hearing to be safe, comfortable, and dignified for both of our witnesses. I hope my colleagues will join me in this effort of a show of civility. With that said, ill admit that this hearing, how this hearing has come about. On july 9th, 2018, the president announced judge kavanaughs nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. Judge kavanaugh has served on the most important federal Appellate Court for 12 years. Before that, he held some of the most sensitive positions in the federal government. The president added judge kavanaugh to his short list of Supreme Court more than nine months ago. In november 2017. As part of judge kavanaughs nomination to the Supreme Court, the fbi conducted its sixth full field Background Investigation of judge kavanaugh since 1993, 25 years ago. Nowhere in any of these six fbi reports, which Committee Investigators have reviewed on a bipartisan basis, was there a whiff of any issue, any issue at all related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior. Dr. Ford first raised her allegations in a secret letter to the Ranking Member nearly two months ago, in july. This letter was secret from july 30th, september 13th no, july 30th until september 13th when i first hurt about it. The Ranking Member took no action. The letter wasnt shared with me or colleagues or my staff. These allegations could have been investigated in a way that maintained the confidentiality that dr. Ford requested. Before his hearing, judge kavanaugh met privately with 65 senators, including the Ranking Member. But the Ranking Member didnt ask judge kavanaugh about the allegations when she met with him privately in august. The Senate Judiciary Committee Held its fourday public hearing from september 4th to september 7th. Judge kavanaugh testified for more than 32 hours in public. We held a closed session for members ask sensitive questions on the last evening, which the Ranking Member did not attend. Judge kavanaugh answered nearly 1300 written questions submitted by senators after the hearing. More than all prior Supreme Court nominees. Throughout this period, we did not know about the Ranking Members secret evidence. Then, only at an 11th hour, on the eve of judge kavanaughs confirmation vote, did the Ranking Member refer the allegations to the fbi. And then, sadly, the allegations were leaked to the press. Thats where dr. Ford was mistreated. This is a shameful way to treat our witness, who insisted on confidentiality, and of course, judge kavanaugh, who has had to address these allegations in the midst of a media circus. When i received dr. Fords letter on september 13th, my staff and i recognized the seriousness of these allegations and immediately began our committees investigation consistent with the way the committee has handled such allegations in the past. Every step of the way, the democratic side refused to participate in what should have been a bipartisan investigation, and as far as i know on all of our judgeships throughout at least the last four years or three years, thats been the way its been handled. After dr. Fords identity became public, my staff contacted all of the individuals she said attended the 1982 party, described in the Washington Post article. Judge kavanaugh immediately submitted to an interview under penalty of felony for any knowingly false statements. He denied the allegations categorically. Democratic staff was invited to participate and could have asked any questions they wanted to, but they declined. Which leads me, then, to wonder, if theyre really concerned with going to the truth, why wouldnt you want to talk to the accused . The process and procedure is what the committee always does when we receive allegations of wrongdoing. My staff reached out to other individuals allegedly at the party. Mark judge, patrick smith, leyland kaiser. All three submitted statements to the senate under penalty of felony, denying any knowledge of the events described by dr. Ford. Dr. Fords lifelong friend, ms. Kaiser, stated she doesnt know judge kavanaugh and doesnt recall every attending a party with him. My staff made repeated requests to interview dr. Ford during the past 11 days. Even volunteering to fly to california to take her testimony. But her attorneys refused to present her allegations to congress. I nevertheless honored her request for a public hearing so dr. Ford today has the opportunity to prevent her allegations under oath. As you can see, the Judiciary Committee was able to conduct thorough investigations into allegations thorough investigations into allegations. Some of my colleagues consistent with her stated desires to obstruct kavanaughs nomination by any means necessary, pushed for fbi investigations into the allegations. But i have no authority to force the executive Branch Agency to conduct an investigation into a matter it considers to be closed. Moreover, once the allegations become became public, it was easy to identify all of the alleged witnesses and conduct our own investigations. Contrary to what the public has been led to believe, the fbi doesnt perform any credibility assessments or verify the truth of any events in these Background Investigations. Ill quote then chairman joe biden during Justice Thomas confirmation hearing. This is what senator biden said, quote, the next person who refers to an fbi report as being worth anything obviously doesnt understand anything. The fbi explicitly does not in this or any other case reach a conclusion, period. They say he said she said they said, period. So when people wave an fbi report before you, understand they do not. They do not, they do not reach conclusions. They do not make recommendations. End of senator bidens quote. The fbi provided us with the allegations. Now its up to the senate to assess their credibility. Which brings us to this very time. I look forward to a fair and respectful hearing. Thats what we promised dr. Ford. Some of my colleagues have complained about the fact that an expert on this side is investigating sex crimes will be questioning the witness. I see no basis for complaint other than just plain politics. The testimony we will hear today concerns allegations of Sexual Assault, very serious allegations. This is an incredibly complex and sensitive subject to discuss. Its not an easy one to discuss. That is why the senators on this side of the dais believe an expert who has deep experience and training in interviewing victims of Sexual Assault and investigating Sexual Assault allegations should be asking questions. This will be a stark contrast to the grandstanding and chaos that we saw from the other side during the previous four days in this hearing process. I can think of no one better equipped to question the witnesses than rachel mitchell. Ms. Mitchell is a career prosecutor, Civil Servant with decades of experience investigating and prosecuting sex crimes. She has dedicated her career to seeking justice for survivors of sexrelated felonies. Most recently, rachel was a division chief of the special Victims Division Maricopa County attorneys office. Which prosecutes sex crimes and family violence. Then democratic governor Janet Napolitano previously recognized her as the outstanding arizona Sexual Assault prosecutor of the year. And she has spent years instructing prosecutors, detectives, and Child Protection workers on how to properly interview victims of Sexual Assault and abuse. With her aid, i look forward to a fair and productive hearing. I understand that there are two other public allegations. Todays hearing was scheduled in close consultation with dr. Fords attorneys. And her testimony will be the subject of this hearing. We have been trying to investigate other allegations. At this time, we have not had cooperation from attorneys representing other clients. And they have made no attempt to substantiate their claims. My staff has tried to secure testimony and evidence from attorneys for both Deborah Ramirez and julie swetnick. My staff made eight requests. Yes, eight requests, for evidence from attorneys for ms. Ramirez. And six requests for evidence for attorneys for ms. Swetnick. Neither attorney has made their clients available for interview. The committee cant do an investigation if attorneys are stonewalling. I hope you all understand that we have attempted to seek Additional Information as we do a lot of times when there are holes in what we call the b. I. Reports. Additionally, all the witnesses should know by when i say all the witnesses, i mean dr. Ford and i mean judge kavanaugh, all the wintnesses should know they have the right under senate rule 26. 5 to ask that the committee go into closed session if a question requires an answer that is a clear invasion of their right to privacy. If either dr. Ford or judge kavanaugh feel that senate rule 26. 5 ought to be involved, they should simply say so. Senator feinstein. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Ill make just a brief comment on your references to me. Yes, i did receive a letter from dr. Ford. It was conveyed to me by a member of congress, anna eschew. The next day i called dr. Ford. We spoke on the phone. She reiterated she wanted this held confidential, and i held it confidential, up to a point where the witness was willing to come forward. And i think as i make my remarks, perhaps youll see why. Because how women are treated in the United States with this kind of concern is really wanting a lot of reform. And ill get to that for a minute, but in the meantime, good morning, dr. Ford. Thank you for coming forward and being willing to share your story with us. I know this wasnt easy for you. But before you get to your testimony, and the chairman chose not to do this, i think its important to make sure youre properly introduced by the way, i was going to introduce her, but if you want to introduce her, i would be glad. I didnt forget to do that, because i would do that just as she was about to speak. Thank you. I have to say, when i saw your cv, i was extremely impressed. You have a bachelors degree from the university of north carolina, chapel hill. Two masters degrees. One from stanford and one from pepperdine, and a ph. D. From the university of southern california, better known to senator harris and i as usc. You are a professor affiliated with both Stanford University and Palo Alto University. You have published over 65 Peer Reviewed articles and have received numerous awards for your work and research. And as if that were not enough, you are a wife, a mother of two sons, and a constituent from california. So i am very grateful to you for your strength and your bravery in coming forward. I know its hard. But before i turn it over, i want to Say Something about what is to be discussed today and where we are as a country. Sexual violence is a serious problem. And one that largely goes unseen. In the United States, its estimated by the centers for disease control, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men will experience some form of Sexual Violence in their lifetime. According to the rape abuse and Incest National network, 60 of Sexual Assaults go unreported. In addition, when survivors do report their assaults, its often years later due to the trauma they suffered and fearing their stories will not be believed. Last week, i received a letter from a 60yearold california constituent who told me she survived an attempted rape at age 17. She described as being terrified and embarrassed. She never told a soul until much later in life. The assault stayed with her for 43 years. I think its important to remember these realities as we hear from dr. Ford about her experience. Theres been a great deal of public discussion about the me too Movement Today versus the year of the woman almost 27 years ago. But while young women are standing up and saying no more, our institutions have not progressed in how they treat women who come forward. Too often, womens memories and credibility come under assault. In essence, they are put on trial and forced to defend themselves. And often revictimized in the process