this the "nightline." >> tonight, speaking out. supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh in an unprecedented interview on fox news vows to keep fighting. >> i'm not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process. i'm not going anywhere. >> as new allegations of sexual misconduct emerge, women across the country denounce him. >> we believe professor ford. we believe anita hill. >> and republicans stand by their man. >> one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything. >> judge kavanaugh will be voted on here on the senate floor. >> plus, comingor fwa .rd outrage in solidarity. >> we stand with you. >> telling their stories in

hopes of changing a culture. >> i did not report my own rape, and it took me almost four decades. >> responding to the president why they didn't report their assaults. >> every survivor has a story like that when they have come forward. >> but, first, the "nightline ". >> no. >> i'm not ready for this.

good evening. thank you for joining us. pressure is growing on president trump's supreme court nominee. brett kavanaugh facing new allegations about his conduct decades ago with one accuser set to testify thursday before the senate judiciary committee. the president, republicans in the senate not backing down while denounce thing the accusations as a smear. kavanaugh himself taking a remarkable step to defend himself pubically. here's abc's terry moran. >> i've never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever. >> reporter: supreme court nominee judge brett kavanau responding to a round of new allegations of sexual misconduct on fox news. >> i'mot nalse accusations drive us out of this process. >> reporter: seated next to his wife ashley who conveyed her support for her husband. >> he's decent. he's kind. he's good. i know his heart. this is not consistent with

brett. >> you don't see a supreme court nominee speak pubically other than inside a confirmation room. it reflects the peril that this nomination is in ay filled with turmoil. >> we believe dr. ford! >> reporter: on capitol hill angry protesters filled the rotunda and hallways calling for the end to kavanaugh's nomination. some of the disrupters apprehended and restrained by police using zip ties, while others marched on, fists in air to the supreme court. >> to stand with survivors. >> reporter: the allegation seeming to deepen the political divide. >> the political pressure is boiling over here on capitol hill. more than 120 protesters arrested here today. they are demanding that several key senators vote no on judge kavanaugh's nominee to the supreme court. >> reporter: democrats renewing the call for an fbi investigation. >> how do you get to the truth if you won't even allow a investigation? >> both these women are bravely coming forward with allegations

that i think the judiciary committee should hear hand hear fully. >> reporter: a chorus of republicans calling this new wave a smear campaign. >> senate democrats continued their smear campaign. >> it's shameful. shameful smear campaign. >> reporter: and president trump remaining steadfast in his support. >> he's a fine man with an unblemished past, and these are highly you be substantiated statements. judge kavanaugh is an outstanding person, and i am with him all the way. >> reporter: reports of more allegations against kavanaugh surfaced sunday night, this after a week of uproar over allegations first brought forth by christine blasey ford. sunday the "new yorker" published a second allegation, the accounch deborah ramirez, a former yale classmate of judge kavanaugh who alleges that kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party on campus. she says she remembers a penis being in front of her face and other students around her encouraging her to kiss it.

this morning ronan farrow appeared on "gma" to defend his reporting. >> i want to stress this we take reporting of this matter seriously. the number of witnesses told at the time is strong. it's in excess what have we typically so in this kind of investigative reporting. >> reporter: the "new yorker" acknowledges it could locate no witness who could put kavanaugh at that party and that ramirez at first was not sure it was kavanaugh who exposed himself. judge kavanaugh and the white house released statements in response to the "new yorker"kan saying in part this alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. the people who knew me then know that did not happen and have said so. this is a smear, plain and simple. >> why does his morality and personal conduct matter here? you know, this is someone who is going to be sitting in judgment in hugely important cases and issuing rules that have consequences for every person in this country. >> reporter: the examination of kavanaugh's personal conduct

first intensified. >> judge kavanaugh, will you testify? >> first we want to begin with the allegation against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. >> president trump's supreme court nominee in turmoil. >> reporter: when christine blasey ford stepped forward in a "washington post" interview alleging that kavanaugh assaulted her while they were in high school about 35 years ago, kavanaugh denies this happened. she is now scheduled to testify in an open hearing on thursday. and today a look at a letter blasey ford senate -- sent to the senate judiciary committee. i felt that this was something that a citizen could not do. i felt agony yet urgency and a civic duty to let it be nope in a confidential manner prior to the nominee being selected. >> she clearly considers this an attempted rape. erd this is about being ics. treated fairly in a very public forum for someone that has never seen the limelight of washington, hasn't had to appear before cameras ever before. >> reporter: blasey ford says she didn't know kavanaugh well

when they attended a party as teenagers back in the '80s. blasey ford claims kavanaugh and a friend were stumbling drunk when they locked her in a bedroom and turned on loud music and says kavanaugh's friend watched as the now nominee pinned her to a bed and groped her hand when she tried to scream kavanaugh put her hand over her mouth according to "the washington post." he was trying to remove my clothing and i thought he might ined a vermont ily kill me. she managed to escape and fled the house. decade later sheol thderapist and her husband abou an incident in 2012. >> she's willing to do whatever it takes t get she's a credible person. these are serious allegations, and they should be addressed. >> reporter: all of this already taking a toll. dr. blasey ford's attorney releasing this statement saying in part she's currently unable to go home and is t her r and h family's safety. she continues to believe a full

non-partisan investigation of this matter is needed, and she is willing to cooperate with the committee. judge kavanaugh said in a statement this is a completely false allegation. i have never done anything like what the accuser describes to her or anyone. because this never happened, i have no idea who is making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday. kavanaugh's hotly contested confirmation hearings began early this month. on day two he entered no a heated exchange with senator mazie hirono from hawaii. her questions which she asks eee escievy t. er >> sinnocene youmi became a leg adult have youmiom c fedttirst assault of a sexual nature? >> no. >> have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct? >> no. >> reporter: kavanaugh was also asked about hioy s hmen i ho?ol boy

sc walton type or a ferris bueller type? >> i worked hard at school.i h ef o i trolkubled part. >> that's encompassed up the friends. >> a question that seems oddly onl stbof alpoint,na scrutiny, this joke from 2015 a prep stays at georgetown prep. that's been all of us, i think. >> this intense focus is weighing heavily on this entire kavanaugh family. >> he's been anguished by the fact that his daughters and his family have been taken through this. they have beeny media requests and had threats against their lives accord to judge kavanaugh. this has been a difficult peri. >> america isboutd hearing fro i didn't do this or anything

resembling this. these are -- this is wrong. >> reporter: it's only monday, but the din of accusations, rebuttals, partisan bickering is already at a fever pitch as washington streams ahead to thursday. who knows what else will happen between now and then. >> this will be an epic sh typi way. dr. ford, who is making clear that she believes that brett kavanaugh assaulted her, attempted to rape her more than 30 years ago and brett kavanaugh who says i was never there. who is telling the truth? who is credible and whose story comes off as the truthful one. >> reporter: for "night lipo"i'm terry moran in washington. ar exmene man: are unpredictable crohn's symptoms following you everywhere? it's time to take back control with stelara®. for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission

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the allegations against supreme court number know brett kavanaugh date back more than 30 years, and none of the women reported their accusations at the time. kavanaugh supporters point to this as reason to doubt the claims, but most victims of sex crimes say they have god reason to remain silent, a culture that still puts them on trial happened not those accused. here's abc's linda lopez. >> i know because i did not report my own rape, and i four >> reporter: an emotional plea, >> i hid moy shame deep inside my rib cage. >> we believe dr. ford! >> we believe anita hill. >> reporter: across the nation said, a sea of survivors and advocates uniting. >> they say get back.

>> women say fight back. >> they say get back. >> women say fight back. >> reporter: their aim, to make a nation understand why it's so hard for sexual assault survivors to come forward, to report. >> we see you. we believe you. >> reporter: from new york city to washington, believe dr. ford >> reporter: and online many wearing black using the #believesurvivors. voices in solidarity with christine blasey ford and deborah ramirez, two women coming forward with allegations against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. kavanaugh has denied the allegations against him. it's a national conversation sparked partly by the president's comments on fox news last week. >> frankly, sean, to see what's going on is just very, very sad. you say why didn't somebody call the fbi 36 years ago? i mean, you could also say when did this all happen? what's going on? >> reporter: and this tweet the following day. i have no doubt that if the

attack on dr. ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local law enforcement authorities by either her or her loving parents. that belief, a flashpoint at today's event at new york city hall where survivors broke down while telling their truths can be so complex. >> even in sharing my story online i get called names. i'm told, you know, i'm a liar. i have people threaten and harass me. every survivor has a story like that when they come forward. >> when people try to flip the blame, it's really a problem, and it can really be super damaging. >> we stand with you. >> reporter: in today's crowd, 25-year-old emily, herself a survivor of sexual assault. she asked us not to release her last name. >> we see dr. ford, right, getting death threats. her having her character questioned. oftentimes after something so traumatic you feel alone, i don't want to repeat this or

repeat it to anyone so, of course, it takes a long time to come forward and some people still haven't told, you know, and i feel like that's no reflection on the validity of the claims or of what happened. >> reporter: emily was just a sophomore in high school when she says she was sexually assaulted by someone she viewed as a mentor in her community. >> people that i told would say, well, did you say no, or how did you say no? did you cry? you know, did you scream, and i feel like that's not -- the issue is that i didn't want what took place. that's the issue. the issue is that i what is 15 and he was in is a position of power and i didn't want anything to occur. >> reporter: she says it took several months before she told her friends and would take years to accept what happened. >> took me a couple of years of really like having community and having support and having a place to speak where i was able to really reckon with and see the harm that was done and also look at how to move and heal and support other survivors through

that. >> reporter: in the past several days, thousands have taken to social media sharing their own stories of why they didn't report. alyssa milano, a key figure in the me, too, movement tweeted directly at president trump writing listen the expletive up. i was sexually assaulted twice, once when i was a teenager. i never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell my parents. ashley judd tweeted the first time it happened i was 7. i told the first adults i came upon. they said oh, he's a nice old man. that's not what he meant so when i was raped at 15 i only told my diary. when an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man. >> sexual abuse and sexual harassment are the most underreported crimes. 70% to 90% of these crimes if unreported. very few get prosecuted. when women do come forward we look at the victim and what she

did or didn't do, much more than we look at the perpetrator in what he did or didn't do. >> reporter: forensic psychologist dr. shared arette points to what is happening to dr. ford is an example of why some individuals choose not to come forward. >> dr. ford has had to go into hiding with her family. she's been harassed and threatened multiple times. i understand she's had death threats, so it takes an enormous amount of courage to speak up about something that's embarrassing, that's humiliating, that she didn't feel comfortable telling anybody. >> that courage apparent today on the steps of the supreme court. a co-founder of the me, too campaign is keenly aware of the challenges around reporting these crimes and sees this moment as another call to action. >> dr. blasey ford's accusations and the way she's been treated subsequent to her accusations have been an organizing tool, if you will, for us in the movement, and so i think it's also been an opportunity for us

to show the world that the me, too movement is about this right here. it's about survivors coming forward and banding together to move our agenda forward. >> are you a scorned woman? >> what was the content of what he shade? >> has anybody promises you anything by coming forth? >> reporter: burke says the kavanaugh hearings are reminiscent of what happened to anita hill nearly three decades ago. >> the big difference is that anita hill didn't have the benefit of what we have here today. so many people didn't believe her at the time, and i think we learned a lesson from that, and we are out here and we will not let the same thing happen twice. >> we believe debby ramirez. >> i think that women and women's anger has been on display throughout the kavanaugh confirmation process. >> i believe that we can win. >> the protests in the halls of the senate, in d.c., on law school campuses and particularly against men in positions of power. >> reporter: many are hoping that today's demonstrations will send a message to washington. >> they don't want senators to

vote to confirm judge kavanaugh and there may be electoral consequences that they may face at the ballot box if they do choose to vote to confirm judge kavanaugh. >> have you had enough? >> yes! >> have you had enough? >> yes. >> reporter: for many survivors today their message was clear. we believe the women. >> let this be a reminder that you are not alone. >> reporter: for emily, dr. ford and ramirez's courage to speak is already an enormous step. >> i would just say thank you and we see you. we hear you and believe you. >> we see you, we hear you, we believe you. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm linda lopez in new york. ♪ oh, say can you see >> and next, a little girl with aigaking major impression. my gums are irritated. i don't have to worry about that, do i?

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