good evening. thanks for joining us. it's the final hours before supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh and the woman who rsa assault face a senate panel and the public. dr. christine blasey ford releasing pictures and a handwritten account of a lie detector test she took. kavanaugh turning over detailed calendars he kept to show he wasn't the wild teen as he's being portrayed. today a third accuser coming forward with disturbing allegations against kavanaugh, that he vehemently denies. >> this allegation is a game changer. because it's under oath. >> this is getting into the twilight zone. you're talking about brett kavanaugh being a serial rapist during high school, as a sophomore in high school. >> the president standing by his nominee for now. >> are they liars? >> i'm going to see what happens

tomorrow. it's possible that they will be convincing. >> women across the country passionately speaking out and sharing their stories. >> shame, shame! >> actress alyssa alano joining them. her message for senators. plus i sat down with one woman who wrote to her rapist decades after she was attacked. the surprising response just 20 minutes after she sent her e-mail. >> and i was shaking as i pressed the button. and his first words were "oh my god, deb, this is" and he said his name, "oh my god, i'm so sorry, so sorry." >> the power of an apology. we'll be right back.

this special edition of "nightline" continues. here again, juju chang. >> reporter: today president trump striking a combative tone and pointing fingers at senate democrats. >> they know it's a big fat con job. and they go into a room, and i guarantee you, they laugh like hell at what they pulled off on you and on the public. >> reporter: the president fielding a range of questions on sexual assault accusations against his supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh. >> when i look at what's happened to the reputation of a great gentleman, a great intellect, a brilliant man, somebody that has a chance to be one of our great supreme court

justices in history, intellectually, i think it's a shame. >> reporter: all this as another accuser emerged today with a sworn statement alleging another account of sexual misconduct. abc's jonathan karl. >> you have daughters. can you understand why a victim of sexual assault would not report it at the time? don't you understand -- >> by the way, i only say this. 36 years. no charge, no nothing. >> but that happens often. >> people are going to have to make a decision. 36 years, there's no charge. all of a sudden the hearings are over and the rumors start coming out and then you have this other con artist avenatti come out with another beauty today. >> reporter: michael avenatti, attorney and frequent trump provocateur, this morning tweeting a photograph and declaration from his latest client, julie swetnick, in a sworn affidavit, the 55-year-old

details graphic accusations of what she calls highly inappropriate conduct from the nominee and others close to him. kavanaugh vehemently denying the allegations in a statement writing, this is ridiculous. and from the twilight zone. i don't know who this is and this never happened. earlier today the president wholeheartedly backing his pick. >> hopefully over the next couple of days it will be settled up and solved and we will have a supreme court justice who will go down as one of our greatest ever. >> reporter: but later at the press conference, president trump shifting his message saying he wanted to see how tomorrow's hearing plays out. >> do you think these women, all three of them, are liars? >> i can always be convinced. i have to hear it. >> it sounds like what you're saying is, there is a scenario under which you would withdraw brett kavanaugh's nomination. is that correct? >> if i thought he was -- >> have you talked about that -- >> if i thought he was guilty of something like this, yeah, sure. >> you will wait until tomorrow to make up your mind? >> i want to watch, i want to see, i hope i can watch. >> reporter: all this drama

unfolding on the eve of thursday's highly anticipated senate hearing before the judiciary committee, where kavanaugh and one of his accuser, dr. christine blasey ford, are expected to testify. this after days of disturbing allegations regarding kavanaugh's time in high school and college brought by blasey ford, then a second accuser, deborah ramirez, a yale classmate who told her story to "the new yorker," telling the magazine that kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. kavanaugh denied it and said the alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen, this is a smear, plain and simple. in a highly unusual move kavanaugh and his wife appeared on fox news to defend his character. >> we've all done things we looked back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit. but that's not what we're talking about. we're talking about an allegation of sexual assault. i've never sexually assaulted anyone. >> reporter: today's new

allegations paint a different picture. swetnick says she's worked on and off for the federal government for years, holding security clearances for multiple departments. she writes that back in the early '80s, she became aware of efforts that kavanaugh, his close friend mark judge, and others would spike the punch at house parties in order to cause girls to lose their inhibitions and their ability to say no. she goes on to write she also witnessed efforts by mark judge, brett kavanaugh, and others, to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could be gang raped in a side room or bedroom by a train of numerous boys. she claims she too was raped by multiple boys at a party attended by kavanaugh, yet she doesn't contend that either kavanaugh or judge were among her alleged assailants. abc news has been unable to corroborate swetnick's allegations. while both kavanaugh and judge have denied those allegations, both men are also named in dr. blasey ford's accusations, who first detailed her account to "the washington post."

saying she was at a party when the now-nominee pinned her to a bed and groped her. he was trying to attack me and remove my clothing, blasey ford said. i thought he might inadvertently kill me. she claims she managed to escape. kavanaugh also denies this happened. today dr. blasey ford's attorneys releasing a handwritten account as part of a lie detector test she took, and they say she passed. but brett kavanaugh submitting evidence of his own including a 1982 detailed calendar to show he wasn't the party animal he's been portrayed as. instead noting, college interviews for brown and yale. and this reminder, to go to judges. on capitol hill a day of turmoil for both parties. >> i feel like i have a definite responsibility to hold a hearing, not only for her, but for judge kavanaugh. she's been waiting for ten days now to appear, so why would we want to disadvantage her from doing what she offered to do a long time ago?

>> reporter: all ten democratic senators on the judiciary committee are demanding that president trump withdraw kavanaugh's nomination. tomorrow they will be the ones asking the questions along with this woman, veteran sex crimes prosecutor rachel mitchell from arizona, who will meet dr. blasey ford tomorrow for the first time. brought in by the republicans in committee, all of them men. >> normally a sex crimes prosecutor would have so much more time to build trust and rapport with a witness before there would be a hearing like this. >> we hired her because she has an extraordinary reputation for being able to ferret out the truth and sexual -- allegations of sexual assault. >> reporter: kavanaugh will likely have to answer tough questions of his own. >> he will face some embarrassing questions about his youth, his sexuality, various pieces of his anatomy. it could be just absolutely horrifying for him to consider

doing this in such a public way. >> reporter: but the new allegations further splitting the already partisan committee. on one side, democrats claiming the new allegations must be considered. >> this allegation is a game changer because it's under oath, and it names corroborating witnesses. >> reporter: on the other side, republicans. >> i do believe the judge. i think it is a smear. >> i'm very suspicious of this. he says he doesn't know the lady. he says he never hung out with the lady. >> reporter: and senator lisa murkowski, a key swing vote, believes in the process. >> they will be on the record, under oath, and it will be an opportunity for us to again hear both sides of this story. >> reporter: on the senate floor today, republican senator jeff flake, another key swing vote. >> up or down, yes or no, however this vote goes, i'm confident in saying that it will forever be steeped in doubt.

>> reporter: elsewhere on capitol hill, angry protesters once again filled the rotunda and hallways calling for an end to kavanaugh's nomination. >> shame, shame, shame! >> reporter: among them actress and "me too" activist alyssa milano, leading the charge with one group testifying outside congressional offices. >> when i was 15 years old -- >> reporter: for her, the fight is personal. >> i felt a hand up my skirt. and i was punched repeatedly in the vagina. i couldn't turn around. i looked to the stage. and i said, please help me. >> reporter: she has a message for senators going into tomorrow's hearing. >> vote them out, vote them out! >> i hope that the senators really take into consideration the pain and the rage that we're feeling. survivors shouldn't have to tell their stories for senators to do the right thing. we're just hoping that the republican senators will stand up for survivors, stand up for women, and demand a fair process. >> reporter: and tonight a

glimpse into tomorrow's hearing. dr. blasey ford releasing a copy of her upcoming statement testifying, brett's assault on me drastically altered my life for a very long time. i was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details. and the white house also releasing kavanaugh's opening remarks who still adamantly denies all allegations. i have never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not in college, not ever. up next, a presidential tweet inspires one woman to reach out to the man she says raped her. the power of an apology. are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control

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this special edition of "nightline" continues. >> the power of forgiveness. one woman fired up after president trump tweeted skepticism about the allegations against his supreme court pick, a trigger for her to e-mail the man who she says raped her. his response perhaps a roadmap for reconciliation. graduation day. a day for celebration. but behind this smile, a dark secret. >> i kept saying, no, no, no. and he went ahead with it anyway. >> reporter: deborah kopakin, age 22, hiding the pain of sexual assault. >> i did not tell my parents until 13 years later. why? i was graduating the next morning. this man had already stolen a giant piece of my soul. i was not going to let him steal my graduation day as well. >> reporter: she shouldered the burden for three decades but just last week, triggered by the tumult of the kavanaugh

accusations, she felt compelled to confront her rapist and got an unexpected answer. an apology. >> how restorative was it to you to hear him apologize? >> since that day, which was wednesday of last week, i have felt a lightness of spirit and a lightness of being that i haven't experienced -- that i haven't experienced since i was 22 years old. and i'm 52, 30 years. >> reporter: her trauma happened the night before her harvard graduation. >> the kids went to a grad ways party. at that graduation party i met the man who would, that night, date rape me. >> reporter: she had a sprained ankle and says the man offered to give her a ride home. >> i hadn't realized how drunk he was. i should have. i mean, i was drinking that night, we were all drinking that night, it was the night before graduation. >> reporter: she invited him up to her apartment after he asked to see these photos, part of her senior photography thesis. there was one picture in

particular that stood out to him. >> he said, oh, i bet you liked it when that guy did that. no, this was a man who was flashing me, a photo of a flasher. and i said, what? what are you talking about? from there, he basically attacked me. and he was so drunk that afterwards, he passed out in my bed. and i tried moving, i was screaming at him, get out of my bed, get out of my bed what are you doing here? i ended up the night before my graduation literally sitting on the floor of my bed in front of the bed, rocking back and forth. >> reporter: that morning she says she reported the rape to the campus health clinic. >> i was told, you can wait around for another year and not get your life started, you can hire a lawyer to help you with your prosecution, you can go on the witness stand and have your sex life be put on trial, not your rapist's, or you can stay silent. what choice would you have made?

>> reporter: she became a successful photo journalist, covering war zones and conflicts around the world, for a time working at abc as a producer. she wrote about the rape in her memoir "shutter babe" but carried the scars of that night with her. this rape affected your entire career? >> the choices that i made of career were absolutely affected by one night in 1988. that i was sexually assaulted. the plight of women and what they experience as women in the world was what i became interested and wanted to cover as a journalist. >> reporter: after supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh denied allegations of sexual misconduct as false accusations -- >> i've never sexually assaulted anyone. not in high school, not ever. >> reporter: it all hit too close to home. >> it's retraumatizing all over

again. i can't imagine what christine blasey ford is going through right now. >> reporter: it was this tweet by president trump in part that she says led her to take a bold step. >> yeah, that was the trigger. that tweet -- i had so many other things that i had to do that day. i sat down at my computer and it was like a mad rage came out. i could not believe we're still talking about this. we're not in 1982 anymore, we're in 2018. >> reporter: blaming victims for their silence, she says, fueled her rage. so she penned an e-mail to the man she calls simply "my rapist." >> what i said to him was, i have borne the weight of this shame for 30 years on my own. and now it's time to share this burden. in so many words. i was shaking as i hit send, but i sent it it into the ether and i thought, either he won't answer, or he'll deny it, or -- i had no idea what to expect.

and -- the most incredible -- he called within 20 minutes. >> tell me about the phone call. >> his first words were, "oh my god, deb, this is," and he said his name, "oh my god, i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry." and his voice was shaking. and i just immediately started crying. and what he did, which i found profound, and i hope we can move forward as a society and learn from this, is he said, "tell me from your own words what happened, and i'm here to listen." >> he said tell me in part cause he has no recollection? >> he had no idea, he was blackout drunk. >> reporter: she says the act of listening, truly hearing, then apologizing, was transformative. she wrote about it in "the atlantic." >> to be clear, you're not naming your rapist? >> i don't believe in public shaming. i don't want revenge.

i want apology. and i think that's what restorative justice is all about. he has two children. and i think as a father he just kept thinking, i'm horrified by what i've done, i'm horrified by this idea, i'm horrified by thinking of anyone doing this to my children. and what he said in that moment was, i promise i will pay this forward in some way, i don't know how, but i'll pay it forward. >> reporter: she says the outpouring of support has been overwhelming. >> if this moment of forgiveness and apology and grace can lead to other moments of forgiveness and apology and grace, he's already paying it forward. >> did you forgive your rapist? him. and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. >> we'll be right back. jimmy's gotten used to his whole room smelling like sweaty odors.

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and of course in just a few hours an historic hearing as judge brett kavanaugh and dr. christine blasey ford testify before the senate judiciary committee.

live coverage from abc news starting tomorrow morning at 10:00 eastern, 7:00 pacific. george stephanopoulos and david muir leading our team. thanks for watching "nightline." good night, america. good night, amer