year, particularly my sophomore year, which would have been his junior year of high school, four to five parties that my friends and i attended that were also attended by him. >> okay. did anything happen at these events? like we're >> you can answer that question and then i will go. >> there was no sexual assault at any of those events. is that what you are asking? those were just parties. maybe we can go into more detail when there is more time. i feel time pressure on that question. >> i'm sorry, go ahead and finish answering your question. >> did you want me to describe those parties? >> i'm happy to describe them

and i'm happy to not just whatever you want. >> my question is, was there anything else that was sexually inappropriate? any inappropriate sexual behavior on the part of mr. kavanaugh towards you at any other functions? >> no. >> senator harris. >> dr. ford, first of all, just so we can level. you know you are not on trial. you are not on trial. you are sitting here before members of the united states senate judiciary committee because you had the courage to come forward because as you have said you believe it was your civic duty. i was struck in your testimony by what you indicated as your intention when you first let anyone associated with these hearings know about it. and what you basically said is you reached out to your

representative in the united states congress hoping that person would inform the white house before judge kavanaugh had been named. that's extremely persuasive about your motivation. i believe you and i believe many americans across this country believe you. what i find striking about your testimony is you remember key searing details about what happened to you. you told your husband and therapist, two of the most intimate of your con fidaunts and you told them years ago. you shared your experience with multiple friends years after that and before these hearings ever started. i know having personally prosecuted sexual assault cases and child sexual assault cases that study after study shows

trauma, shame and the fear of consequences are most always caused survivors to at the very least delay reporting, if they ever report at all. police recognize that, prosecutors recognize that, medical and mental health professionals recognize that. the notes from your therapy sessions were created long before this nomination and corroborate what you have said today. you have passed a polygraph and submitted the results to this committee. judge kavanaugh has not. you have called for outside witnesses to testify and for expert witnesses to testify. judge kavanaugh has not. but most importantly, you have called for an independent fbi investigat thefacts.anghas not. and we owe you that.

we owe the american people that. and let's talk about why this is so important. contrary to what has been said today, the fbi does not reach conclusions. the fbi investigates. it interviews witnesses, gathers facts and then presents that information to the united states senate for our consideration and judgment. this committee knows that in spite of what you have been told. in 1991 during a similar hearing, one of my republican colleagues in this committee stated these claims were taken seriously by having the federal bureau of investigations launch an inquiry to determine the validity. the fbi issued a confidential report. that could have and should have been done here. this mning it was this could have been investigated confidentially back in july. this also could have been

investigated in the last 11 days since you came forward, yet that has not happened. the fbi could have interviewed mark judge, patrick smith, leland kaiser, you and judge kavanaugh on these issues. the fbi could have examined various maps that have been presented by the prosecutor who stands in for the united states senators on this committee. the fbi could have gathered facts about the music or conversation or details about the gathering that occurred that evening. that is standard procedure in a sexual assault case. in fact, the manual that was signed off by ms. mitchell, the manual that is posted on the attorneys website as a guiding principle and best practices for what should happen with sexual assault cases highlights the suld happen in terms of the need for an

objective. effective investigation requires cooperation with a multi disciplinary team that includes medical professionals, dedicated forensic interviewers, criminalests and other law enforcement members. the manual stresses the importance of obtaining outside witness information. you have bravely come forward. you have bravely come forward. and i want to thank you because you clearly have nothing to gain for what you have done. you have been a true patriot in fighting for what we do for this country. i believe history will show that you are a true profill in courage at this moment in time in the history of our country and i thank you. >> senator kennedy now. >> dr. ford, we are almost done.

which of your lawyers did senator feinstein's office recommend? >> the katz firm. >> and when you did leave that night, did leland kaiser ever follow up with you and say what happened to you? >> i have had communications with her recently. >> i'm talking about the next day. >> she didn't know about the event. she was down stairs during the event and i did not share it with her. >> are you aware that the three people at the party besides yourself and brett kavanaugh have given statements under penalty of felony to the committee? >> yes. >> are you aware of what the statements say? >> yes. >> are you aware that they say that they have no memory or knowledge of such a party? >> yes.

>> do you have motives? >> i guess we can take those one at a time. leland has significant health challenges. i'm happy that she is focussing on herself and getting the health treatment that she needs. she let me know that she needed her lawyer to take care of this for her. she texted me right afterward with an apology and good wishes. i'm glad she is taking care of herself. i don't expect that pj and leland would remember this evening. it was a very unremarkable party. it was not one of their more notorious parties because nothing remarkable happened to them that evening. they were down stairs. mr. judge is a different story. i would expect that he would remember that this happened. >> understood.

>> senator harris just questioned you from the maricopa protocol on sexual assault. that is the paper she was holding up. are you aware that -- you know, i have been really impressed because you talked about what we call in the profession basically the neurobio logical effects of trauma. have you also educated yourself on the best way to get to memory and truth in terms of interviewing victims of trauma? >> for me? >> the best practices for interviewing victims of trauma? >> no. >> would you believe me if i told you that there is no study that says this setting in five minute increments is the best way to do that?

>> did you know that the best way to do it is to have a trained interviewer talk to you one-on-one in a private setting and to let you do the talking? just let you do a narrative. did you know that? >> that makes a lot of sense. >> it does make a lot of sense. and then to follow up and to fill in the details, does that make sense, as well? research is done by a lot of people in the child abuse field, two of the more prominent ones in the sexual assault field have talked about it. it is called a cognitive interview. this is not a cognitive interview. did anybody ever advise you from senator feinstein's office or from representative's office to get a forensic interview?

>> no. >> instead, you were advised to get an attorney and take a polygraph. is that right? >> many people advised me to get an attorney. once i had an attorney, my attorney and i discussed using the polygraph. >> instead of submitting to an interview in california, we're having a hearing here today in five-minute increments. is that right? >> i agree, that is what was agreed upon by the collegial group here. >> i have something to submit for the record. we received three statements under penalty of felony from three witnesses identified by dr. ford. all three denied knowledge of the incident or gathering.

without objection i will enter it into the record. om thewitness's family friends including her husband. >> i will get to you as soon as the ranking member. >> mr. chairman, i have three letters addressed to both you and the ranking member. i ask that they be entered into the record. >> without objection. >> it is also my understanding that mr. judge is not willing to come forward to answer our questions. as a result we cannot test his memory or make any assessment of his thoughtfulness or character. i think that is why the failure to call him to testify is so very critical. i hope the majority would reconsider that. >> i ask if you have sworn statements that you are submitting for the record that

we have those individuals come before us so we can ask them questions about the statements. i think the nature of this proceeding would be compromised if we lack an opportunity to ask them questions about sworn statements that will be part of the record. so i would object to entering them in the record. >> mr. chairman -- >> i have a number of letters that i would like to ask submitted to the record that relate to the importance of proper investigation by trained professionals and pulling these kinds of investigations together from the leadership conference on civil human rights and so forth. >> i have a question for our chairman. the statements that senator blumenthal talked about, those were statements taken by our

majority staff. >> they are already in the record. >> those statements were taken by majority staff in. >> yes. >> did minority staff participate? >> no. >> why not? >> i have to ask them. >> were they instructed not to participate? >> no. >> they chose not to? >> that's right. >> if i may, mr. chairman -- >> if i could, i still think i have the -- >> let's listen to senator feinstein. >> can we be excused? the witness is quite tired. >> i would like to thank dr. ford. we are going to continue this meeting. we can -- let's just be nice to her. dr. ford, i can only speak as one of 21 senators here. i thank you very much for your testimony, more importantly for your bravery coming out and trying to answer our questions

as best you can remember. thank you very much. >> questioning is done. dr. christine blasey ford, senator grassley ending on a gracious note. there you see the question of rachel mitchell, also shaking hands with dr. blasey ford. a little over four hours ago smiling in her face, waving after her friends and joined by supporters in that room today. submitted questions from ten democratic members of the committee, 11 republican members of the committee, but all of the questions from that sex crimes prosecutor ritual mitchell. that final round of questioning from ms. mitchell, fascinating to me. she seemed to be simultaneously

as she talked about how sex crimes victims are usually interviewed, what kind of process they usually go through. you see dr. shaking hands. question after question after mu like rachel mitchell was doing today in public in that questioning. she seemed to be saying those republicans who hired her, i came in to do this my way but it couldn't be done effectively -- >> i so related to her. i have been saying this for weeks. this is not how assaults, sex crimes are investigating. generally you work with either an fbi agent or work with the victim witness advocate. you work with a trained detective in sex crimes and you interview the complainant either video taping or audio tape.

it is someone who has the training. when the prosecutor comes in, then the examination begins. so the investigation in what we just saw which is really the examination are generally separate. this is something that i just never see when it comes to an alleged sexual assault. this is not a partisan issue. this is a criminal issue, in a sense. so she was really i think with her hands behind her back. she could never be effective in the way that this was done. >> think about the word that senator grassley just used. at the end of that proceeding, your bravery. if she is making this up, if this story is all invented and that is what senator grassley believes -- >> has said in the past -- >> he is not going to salute her for her bravery at the end of the proceeding. this means one of two things,

either that senator grassley believes that she believes this and maybe it didn't happen this way or it did happen this way. that says to me that senator grassley is ruling out the possibility that we had a woman show up and make up a story about judge kavanaugh. i think that is a critical telling mome just saw. >> did he say anything? >> he did not talk to reporters. it will be interesting to hear what he has to say once he has a chance to digest what we heard. oren hatch said he didn't find dr. ford's testimony to be uncredible. >> can you still hear me?

>> yes. >> you pick up on the point, it was a remarkable statement we heard from senator grassley. you don't praise liars for bravery. he just praised dr. blasey ford for bravery. it seems to indicate a shift inside the committee. >> reporter: even if just so slightly. the chairman just walked by us and i asked him whether he thought the testimony credible. he kind of threw his arms in the air. he seems to be hearing a slight shift in tone. we have senator gilibrant with us. we have seen republicans rallying around, what would a vote for judge kavanaugh mean? >> i think dr. blasey ford showed us what courage looks like. i think she is a strong

individual who just told the worst moments of her life in front of the world and that took enormous grace and strength and courage. i think the authenticity of the heart felt remarks just showed not only that she is telling the truth but how believable her story is. >> reporter: we have heard from the white house, the arguments may be compelling but note there are gaps in the story. >> if they bothered to have an fbi investigation as they would for any judicial nominee they would have a lot more details. we would know when mark judge was working at the local grocery store so we could pin point the date of this event. the republican leadership have been unwilling to do the basics of a background check.

>> so this is -- >> listen listen listen. the fbi will tell us what? what house are they going to go to? they can't tell us the month, barely the year. this is all delayed. >> did he tell you that? >> here is what they go on. he said i didn't do it. i don't know what she is talking about. they said he's an abuser. guess what? we'll be past the midterm. i think with her life she is

just as much a victim of this as i think brett kavanaugh. we know who she gave the letter to. >> did you still want to -- >> do you still want to go on friday? >> senator lishe has been the strongest voice. you were there listening to that right there. we now hear the standard setting. he says we expect that will come out and say it didn't happen. >>. >> reporter: he made very clear as he was walking away he thinks there should be this vote tomorrow. he continues to stand very clearly by judge kavanaugh although calling out all of the holes he feels.

he wants to hear what he has to say. >> the question is will 51 republican senators agreeith that? good morning. thanks for joining us. we are continuing coverage on the senate judiciary committee hearing involving brett kavanaugh and blasey ford. >> it was emotional not only inside the hearing room but with demonstrations on both sides of the aisle. we have been following the groups there since early this morning and has this report from washington d.c. >> behind me you can see a crowd of hundred ofs of women and men. making their voices heard and at times chanting vote no on kavanaugh. of course this is a block buster

hearing. security has been ramped up because of the interest of women accusing himov of sexual misconduct. she requested fewer cameras be present today and her husband is at home since they have been getting death threats. earlier today at 7:00 our time you can see the line was deep with people trying to get into the hearing room. a small group showing support for judge kaanaugh. in contrast at the atrium a large group of more than 300 at least women and men gathered as part of the i believe movement. for the most part they have been peaceful. there is a huge police presence. we'll keep bringing you the latest on abc7 news.com for the latest information. abc 7 news. >> of course abc 7 news will be

in washington d.c. all day today. look for live reports right here on abc 7 and online. today palo alto mayor is responding. >> she credited her bravery for her decision own accountov of s abuse. we are live in palo alto. >> reporter: like millions of us she has her eyes glues on this historic hearing. as you mentioned, we have heard about her recent revolution. she told us about the two accounts of sexual abuse. she did not come forward until she witnessed blasey ford's bravery. we did ask her about kind of her reaction to the line of questioning surrounding mistaken

identity. >> does it ever come into question at all? >> i suppose it could. you know, the identity because it is sort of sered into our mind and your brain forever. i don't know how you -- unless the person attacked you as they were running along. when you are sexually assaulted it is a very personal kind of thing. so unless you're attacked by someone you don't otherwise you know their name. you're not mistaken. >> you're getting a live look at the growing crowd where blasey ford are meeting with the

message our community supports christine. hundreds have been very vocal about >> all thanks. >> we listened into the morning's show. they played the hearing on their air but then a couple of times they paused and would take a break to take a few callers to see how people were reacting so far.

a caller named tom wanted to