President Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is currently facing accusations of sexual assault from Christine Blasey Ford. Ford claims that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party in the 1980s when they were both in high school. According to Ford, Kavanaugh was drunk and accompanied by an equally intoxicated Mark Judge, who watched the event and later jumped on top of both parties, inadvertently allowing Ford to escape. In a statement released by the White House, Kavanaugh denied Ford’s accusations. Mark Judge also denied the alleged incident in an interview with
The New York Times on Friday. Debra Katz, Ford’s lawyer, said on Monday that her client was willing to
testify before Congress. In the wake of the accusations, politicians are calling for a delay on Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until his accuser is heard. Republican Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says that he is “not comfortable voting yes,” until he hears more about Ford’s account. According to
PRRI polling, Americans say that real experiences of sexual harassment or assault that are not reported or believed are a bigger problem in the U.S. than false accusations made about sexual harassment or assault (65 percent vs. 26 percent). Nearly eight in ten (78 percent) Democrats, compared to about two-thirds of political independents (65 percent) and only about half (52 percent) of Republicans, say unreported or unbelieved experiences of sexual harassment or assault are a bigger problem in the U.S. than false accusations.