Ford’s testimony: I believed Kavanaugh was going to rape me

Christine Blasey Ford says in prepared testimony to a Senate committee that she believes Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a party when they were teenagers.

Kavanaugh has said he never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any other time in his life, and he says he didn’t even attend the party where Ford says she was assaulted.

Ford says in testimony for Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that she was “terrified” to go public with her story. She says it’s her “civic duty” to tell the senators what happened.

Ford says she doesn’t have the answers to all the questions she know will be asked about that night and says she doesn’t remember everything. But she said the details have “haunted” her into adulthood.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump says he’s open to changing his mind on Kavanaugh – if the evidence at Thursday’s Senate committee hearing is compelling.

Trump says at a news conference in New York that he’ll watch the testimony. When asked if he would consider withdrawing the nomination told reporters, “If I thought he was guilty of something like this … yeah, sure.”

Trump is calling Kavanaugh was “one of the highest quality people” he’s ever met. The president insists the accusations are false and he’s accusing Democrats of playing politics.

Trump says what’s happening is a “disgrace” that will be reflected in the November election.

Trump blames Senate Democrats and is suggesting that how they handled sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh will help Republicans at the polls.

Republicans are fighting to maintain their grip on both houses of Congress in the face of strong enthusiasm by Democratic voters who oppose Trump and his policies.

Here’s how Trump is assessing the Kavanaugh confirmation process: “It’s disgraceful. It’s a disgrace to the country. And I think you’re going to see it in the midterms.”

Trump also says “these Democratic senators” are a “disgrace.”

He adds that the “good news is the public is very smart and they get it.”

Earlier in the day, lawyers for Ford provided the Senate Judiciary Committee with the results of a polygraph test on her accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens.

The documents indicate the Ford took the test on Aug. 7 at a Hilton Hotel in Maryland.

Ford has told The Washington Post she hired a former FBI agent to conduct the test as she considered whether to come forward with her accusation, and she’s said she passed it.

The newly released documents seem to support her claim, but there’s no independent expert verification.

She says Kavanaugh held her down, tried to remove her clothes and covered her mouth at a drunken high school party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegation and says he’s never assaulted anyone.

In addition to the polygraph, Ford’s lawyers have given the Senate committee four affidavits from people who say Ford told them about the assault.