Women State

Take that MTG! LOL

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 14:22:00 +0000

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Own Words Used Against Her in Biden Campaign Ad

By Aila Slisco On 7/18/23 - NEWSWEEK

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is used as an unlikely spokesperson to tout President Joe Biden's social policies in the president's latest 2024 reelection campaign ad.

The Biden campaign on Tuesday turned the tables on Greene, clipping her words and using them as selling points for the president's 2024 campaign in an ad uploaded to his Twitter account alongside the comment, "I endorse this message." The tweet quickly went viral, receiving more than 5 million views less than two hours after being shared. (CONTINUES)

Trump Indicted, Charged in Classified Documents Inquiry

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 13:11:00 +0000

The seven counts against the former president include conspiracy to obstruct, willful retention of documents and false statements, according to people familiar with the indictment. He said he would surrender to the authorities on Tuesday.

The Justice Department on Thursday took the legally and politically momentous step of lodging federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump, accusing him of mishandling classified documents he kept upon leaving office and then obstructing the government’s efforts to reclaim them.

Mr. Trump confirmed on his social media platform that he had been indicted. The charges against him include willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and a conspiracy to obstruct justice, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department made no comment and did not immediately make the indictment public.

The indictment, handed up by a grand jury in Federal District Court in Miami, is the first time a former president has faced federal charges. It puts the nation in an extraordinary position, given Mr. Trump’s status not only as a one-time commander-in-chief but also as the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to face President Biden, whose administration will now be seeking to convict his potential rival of multiple felonies.

Mr. Trump is expected to surrender to the authorities on Tuesday, according to a person close to him and his own post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been indicted,” Mr. Trump wrote, in one of several posts around 7 p.m. after he was notified of the charges.

The former president added that he was scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Miami at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

In a video he released later on Truth Social, Mr. Trump declared: “I’m an innocent man. I’m an innocent person.”

The indictment, filed by the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, came about two months after local prosecutors in New York filed more than 30 felony charges against Mr. Trump in a case connected to a hush money payment made to a porn star in advance of the 2016 election.

Mr. Trump remains under investigation by Mr. Smith’s office for his wide-ranging efforts to retain power after his election loss in 2020, and how those efforts led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. He is also being scrutinized for potential election interference by the district attorney’s office in Fulton County, Ga.

Public filings in the documents case have painted a picture of Mr. Trump repeatedly stonewalling efforts by both the National Archives and Records Administration and the Justice Department to retrieve the trove of hundreds of sensitive government records that the former president took with him from the White House and kept mostly at his private club and residence in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.

While the nature of a few of the documents found in Mr. Trump’s possession is known — he had held onto letters from the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, for example — it remains unclear what other classified materials were found at Mar-a-Lago and what national security damage his possession of them caused, if any.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly characterized the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt, and in recent weeks his lawyers have sought to raise what they say are issues of prosecutorial misconduct.

Full article at NYT

Courageous Cassidy Hutchinson

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:49:00 +0000

The Courage of Jan. 6 Witness Cassidy Hutchinson

By Peggy Noonan, June 30, 2022

Only a woman would have done what Cassidy Hutchinson did because only a woman, in a place of such power and prestige, would have registered everything and taken such close notes instead of spending that time swanning around being important.

Here she was, all by herself, 26 years old, in front of the whole country.

I found her testimony to the Jan. 6 committee entirely credible. If she lied I see no motive. Any who know otherwise, who can rebut what she said, should come forward and, like her, testify under oath.

She was steadily promoted in Donald Trump’s White House, rising from intern to primary assistant to chief of staff Mark Meadows. She was by all accounts professional and discreet, a conservative, a Trumpian committed to the higher political mission. The powerful men around her appear to have been undefended in her presence and spoke freely—she’s only a kid, a girl, what can she do? She helps the steward clean ketchup off the wall after the president has a tantrum and throws his plates and silverware. In the scheme of things she’s nobody.

And yet such people can upend empires.

By being there this week, she showed a lot more guts than the men of that White House. Mr. Meadows, counsel Pat Cipollone and others—her testimony made them sound like a bunch of jabbering hysterics. You tell the president not to do that! No, you tell him! They worried about legal exposure. Ms. Hutchinson paraphrased Mr. Cipollone: “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable!”

You get the impression she, on the other hand, was worrying about what was right.

Now alone, with the administration over but its men still hiding, she came forward, and what she said changed everything. Her testimony made criminal charges against the former president more likely. In National Review, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote that her testimony was devastating in that it portrayed Donald Trump as “singularly culpable” for the events of 1/6. As to the disputed limousine fight between the president and his Secret Service agents, Mr. McCarthy says, sensibly: Let them speak under oath. Ms. Hutchinson didn’t say that the skirmish occurred but that she had been told it had—by an agent who was there, minutes after it allegedly happened. There’s nothing wrong in this venue with hearsay. “The point of an investigation is to search for reliable, admissible evidence,” Mr. McCarthy writes. “For that, hearsay is not only allowed but encouraged.”

David French in the Dispatch also saw Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony as strengthening the case for prosecution. Mr. Trump approved of the riot, intended to walk to the Capitol with the mob, thought Vice President Mike Pence deserved harm. Most serious, in Mr. French’s view, is what Ms. Hutchinson testified she heard Mr. Trump say of the crowd: “You know, I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not there to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.”

Magnetometers—mags—are used to detect weapons. Some members of the crowd carried them.

Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony must be corroborated by others who might have heard Mr. Trump say this. But if it stands, an indictment “would be a relatively simple story,” Mr. French writes.

“First, Trump summoned the mob to Washington.” Second, he “knew the mob was armed and dangerous.” Third, he exhorted them to “fight like hell” and march on the Capitol. Ms. Hutchinson said he attempted to lead it himself. Fourth, he further inflamed the mob after the attack began by tweeting: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what was necessary.”

With this fact pattern, his earlier admonition to the crowd to move forward “peacefully and patriotically” looks, to Mr. French’s eyes, “more like pro forma ass-covering than a genuine plea. It was a drop of pacifism in an ocean of incitement.”

The purpose of gathering all possible information on this ugly historical event is to see that those who did it are exposed and punished so it never happens again. If Mr. Trump had succeeded, he would have produced a new era, in which democracy and its processes would no longer work in America, in which the outcome of every national election would be a question. We can’t allow that because we can’t survive that way, we’d be finished.

What is important now is getting more people testifying publicly under oath. More people are going to want to talk. The committee should be given the resources to pick up its pace and lengthen its schedule.

After Ms. Hutchinson, the testimony of Messrs. Meadows and Cipollone is more crucial than ever. Mr. Meadows was in the thick of everything on 1/6 and before, as the conspiracy unfolded. Ms. Hutchinson said he asked for a presidential pardon. Did he? For what? (Mr. Meadows has denied it.)

Mr. Cipollone, also at the heart of events, is an interesting case. Almost every book and article about the end of the Trump administration portrays him as a bit of a hero, so it’s generally assumed he was more than a bit of a source. Why so shy now?

He knows whether Ms. Hutchinson told the truth. He knows more than that.

Mr. Cipollone is said to have concerns regarding questions of executive privilege. Rep. Liz Cheney implied in hearings that it was simpler than that: “Our committee is certain that Donald Trump does not want Mr. Cipollone to testify here.”

It is possible he’s keen to keep his business and political ties to Trumpworld and has concluded he can maintain them by never saying in public what one might say in private, on background. Let the girl be brave; he will be careful.

But he owes the public that paid his salary the truth, and until he does his Washington nickname, “Patsy Baloney,” will stick.

Continues

We stand with the people of Ukraine

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 12:47:00 +0000

Ukrainian refugee with two cats and a dog manages to walk across the border to Medyka, Poland. Photo: Aleksandra Szmigiel.

We Support Ukraine

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 18:52:00 +0000

RIP CHAMP

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 17:00:00 +0000

(CNN) The Bidens announced Saturday that their "beloved" German Shepherd Champ has died.

"Our hearts are heavy today as we let you all know that our beloved German Shepherd, Champ, passed away peacefully at home," President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden said in a statement. "He was our constant, cherished companion during the last 13 years and was adored by the entire Biden family."

"Even as Champ's strength waned in his last months, when we came into a room, he would immediately pull himself up, his tail always wagging, and nuzzle us for an ear scratch or a belly rub. Wherever we were, he wanted to be, and everything was instantly better when he was next to us," they said in the statement.

The Bidens continued: "He loved nothing more than curling up at our feet in front of a fire at the end of the day, joining us as a comforting presence in meetings, or sunning himself in the White House garden. In his younger days, he was happiest chasing golf balls on the front lawn of the Naval Observatory or racing to catch our grandchildren as they ran around our backyard in Delaware."

Champ, they said, had been with the family during their "most joyful moments" and "most grief-stricken days."

"We love our sweet, good boy and will miss him always," the President and first lady said.

Dog Charity Linked to Lara Trump has spent over $2 million at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 20:21:00 +0000

A dog rescue charity will have spent over $2 million at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort by the end of this weekend, according to HuffPost. Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump is a chairwoman for the Big Dog Ranch Rescue but its president, Lauren Simmons, claims that played no role in the charity’s decision to hold several fundraising events at the resort over the years.

Between 2014 and 2021, the organization spent $1.9 million at Trump’s Florida club and nearby golf course, and this weekend they will spend an additional estimated $225,000, according to HuffPost. Simmons appears to be a fervent believer of 2020 election fraud conspiracies. “Either we TAKE power back or we will never be free again,” Simmons tweeted Jan. 3. “No more asking nicely.” She didn’t respond to HuffPost’s questions about her support for Trump.

Read at HuffPost

TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR COVER

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 16:32:00 +0000

THANK YOU GOD!

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 23:35:00 +0000

LETS GET THE NEW TENANTS IN AND...

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 23:12:00 +0000

Amanda Kloots to Trump: 'Have some empathy!'

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 12:42:00 +0000

Amanda Kloots, widow of Broadway actor Nick Cordero, posted a video on Instagram where she calls out President Trump for his dismissive tweets about the virus that killed her husband.

Source: CNN

They are Falling like Dominoes

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 17:01:00 +0000

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tests positive.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tested positive for COVID-19, she announced on Twitter Monday.

"After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms," she said in a statement.

McEnany, who holds press briefings with members of the media regularly, said "No reporters, producers, or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit."

McEnany said she will go into quarantine and work remotely. (Source)

Growing number of top Republicans diagnosed with coronavirus

A growing number of top Republicans in President Trump’s orbit have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days, leaving the White House, Senate and Trump campaign to grapple with a frightening health crisis a month out from the election.

Trump is hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a mild cough, congestion and fatigue. First lady Melania Trump has also received a positive diagnosis, as has senior White House adviser Hope Hicks, who had been traveling with Trump to fundraisers, campaign events and the presidential debate.

Kellyanne Conway, the former special assistant to the president, tested positive after recently attending a crowded Rose Garden event to unveil the president’s pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

On the political side, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien was diagnosed with coronavirus on Saturday after traveling with the president to Tuesday’s debate. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel is sick with COVID-19. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who along with Hicks helped Trump prepare for the debate, is also sick.

Three Republican senators have also fallen ill with the coronavirus this week.

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Both senators are on the Judiciary Committee, which plans to meet in nine days to begin hearings on Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) tested positive for coronavirus on Friday as well.

There are few details about the severity of their illnesses. Stepien is the youngest to be diagnosed, at 42 years old, while President Trump is the oldest, at 74. The president and Christie are overweight, putting them in a higher risk category. (Continues)

VOTE & Tell Them Ruth sent you!

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 00:53:00 +0000

IN MEMORIAM

March 15, 1933 - September 18, 2020

White House Needs These Tenants!

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 18:37:00 +0000

Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 12:18:00 +0000

The least racist person we know

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 22:11:00 +0000

The people spoke and peacefully won in Puerto Rico

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:44:00 +0000

People of Puerto Rico: Ricky Must Leave!

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 16:18:00 +0000

Trump's Salute to America - What went wrong...

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 14:39:00 +0000

The Joe Biden you rarely see

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:28:00 +0000

The Hill
By Steve Israel, opinion contributor — 04/24/19

Meetings in the Oval Office with President Obama and Vice President Biden to discuss Democratic House races were always thrilling. Notably, the body language was instructive. The president would sit straight in his chair, cerebral and analytical, absorbing the analysis I presented as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The vice president would hunch forward with his arms outstretched, as if waiting to dive into one of the districts and campaign there himself.

At one such meeting in 2011, I was struggling to concentrate. My dad, who was living in Arizona, had just received a diagnosis of lung cancer. The prognosis was not good. On the way to the White House, I stopped to pick up a “get well” card. My plan was to ask the president to sign it. My dad was a fervent Democrat, and perhaps one of the only Democrats in the retirement community of Ahwatukee Foothills in Phoenix.

After the meeting, I asked the president to sign the card. To my chagrin, he nodded no, then went to his desk, pulled out a drawer, grabbed a piece of stationery, and wrote a personal note. As I left, Biden asked me to join him in his West Wing office. I thought we were going to review maps of competitive districts. Instead, he said, “Your dad’s condition is going to one of the hardest things your mom will go through. I’d like to call her.”

I hesitated. My mother is, well, talkative. So is Biden. I warned him that it might be the longest call in White House history. Then I gave him the phone number and watched as he waited to connect. Seconds letter, he said, “Mrs. Israel, this is Joe Biden.” Then there was a moment of silence followed by a quizzical expression. My assumption was that my mother immediately launched into a monologue with the vice president of the United States, whom she had never met in person or talked with before.

After a few seconds, Biden said, “Hello? Are you there?” Then he broke out laughing. My mother thought it was a robocall and was waiting for the rest of the message. It was a poignant conversation of 10 minutes sharing war stories, the war in this case being cancer. Then he hung up. My mother could not stop talking about that talk. For weeks, then months, she would remind me of when “Joe called me.” Then with the passage of time and the death of my father in August 2012, my mother stopped telling the story.

That was the case until it emerged again in the first week of January 2013. “Joe called,” she told me during a phone conversation. I said, “I know, mom. That was a couple of years ago.” She said, “No. He called on New Years Day. He told me that the first day of a new year without someone you love is hard, and he called to tell me he was thinking about me.”

I had no idea he called. That is the point of this true story. Many politicians might have made that phone call, and they would have let me know about it as a subtle way of claiming some credit for the effort. Not Biden. He called my mother not because her son was a member of Congress, but because she was struggling. He called not to take credit, but simply to make her feel better. It was not out of obligation but out of his humanity.

This is not a political endorsement, although not that such things matter. Wrapping oneself in the political endorsement of a former member of Congress has all the value of being wrapped in a worn vintage coat. Instead, this is a glimpse of a man who never forgot the struggle of a woman who had lost her husband, but did not feel compelled to crow about it to their son. That silence speaks volumes about Joe Biden.

Full Story

Kamala Harris Joins Presidential Field

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:27:00 +0000

Senator Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and barrier-breaking prosecutor who became the second black woman to serve in the United States Senate, declared her candidacy for president on Monday, joining an increasingly crowded and diverse field in what promises to be a wide-open nomination process.

The announcement was bathed in symbolism: Ms. Harris chose to enter the race on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, an overt nod to the historic nature of her candidacy, and her timing was also meant to evoke Shirley Chisholm, the New York congresswoman who became the first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president 47 years ago this week.

In addition, Ms. Harris will hold her first campaign event on Friday in South Carolina, where black voters are the dominant force in the Democratic primary, rather than start off by visiting Iowa and New Hampshire, the two predominantly white states that hold their nomination contests first. She will hold a kickoff rally Sunday in Oakland, Calif., her hometown.

For the first time, the Democratic presidential race now includes several high-profile women, with Ms. Harris joining two other prominent senators who have announced candidacies, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat, has also said she is running, and more women could enter the race in the coming weeks.

Continues at NYT

Welcome Back, Madam Speaker!

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 03:17:00 +0000

Pelosi makes history as she reclaims a title she previously held when she served as the first and so far only female House speaker from 2007 to 2011.

"We enter this new Congress with a sense of great hope and confidence for the future and deep humility," Pelosi said in remarks shortly after being elected to the speakership.

"Our nation is at a historic moment," she continued. "Two months ago, the American people spoke and demanded a new dawn."

In a nod to the historic nature of her election, Pelosi said she felt "particularly proud" to serve as "the woman speaker of the House of this Congress which marks the 100th year of women having the right to vote."

She added that it is a "privilege to serve with over 100 women members of Congress, the largest number in history."

Full story at CNN

Time for G.O.P. to Fire Trump

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 22:39:00 +0000

By Thomas L. Friedman, Opinion Columnist, New York Times

Up to now I have not favored removing President Trump from office. I felt strongly that it would be best for the country that he leave the way he came in, through the ballot box. But last week was a watershed moment for me, and I think for many Americans, including some Republicans.

It was the moment when you had to ask whether we really can survive two more years of Trump as president, whether this man and his demented behavior — which will get only worse as the Mueller investigation concludes — are going to destabilize our country, our markets, our key institutions and, by extension, the world. And therefore his removal from office now has to be on the table.

I believe that the only responsible choice for the Republican Party today is an intervention with the president that makes clear that if there is not a radical change in how he conducts himself — and I think that is unlikely — the party’s leadership will have no choice but to press for his resignation or join calls for his impeachment.

It has to start with Republicans, given both the numbers needed in the Senate and political reality. Removing this president has to be an act of national unity as much as possible — otherwise it will tear the country apart even more. I know that such an action is very difficult for today’s G.O.P., but the time is long past for it to rise to confront this crisis of American leadership.

Trump’s behavior has become so erratic, his lying so persistent, his willingness to fulfill the basic functions of the presidency — like reading briefing books, consulting government experts before making major changes and appointing a competent staff — so absent, his readiness to accommodate Russia and spurn allies so disturbing and his obsession with himself and his ego over all other considerations so consistent, two more years of him in office could pose a real threat to our nation. Vice President Mike Pence could not possibly be worse.

The damage an out-of-control Trump can do goes well beyond our borders. America is the keystone of global stability. Our world is the way it is today — a place that, despite all its problems, still enjoys more peace and prosperity than at any time in history — because America is the way it is (or at least was). And that is a nation that at its best has always stood up for the universal values of freedom and human rights, has always paid extra to stabilize the global system from which we were the biggest beneficiary and has always nurtured and protected alliances with like-minded nations.

Donald Trump has proved time and again that he knows nothing of the history or importance of this America. That was made starkly clear in Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’s resignation letter.
Trump is in the grip of a mad notion that the entire web of global institutions and alliances built after World War II — which, with all their imperfections, have provided the connective tissues that have created this unprecedented era of peace and prosperity — threatens American sovereignty and prosperity and that we are better off without them.

So Trump gloats at the troubles facing the European Union, urges Britain to exit and leaks that he’d consider quitting NATO. These are institutions that all need to be improved, but not scrapped. If America becomes a predator on all the treaties, multilateral institutions and alliances holding the world together; if America goes from being the world’s anchor of stability to an engine of instability; if America goes from a democracy built on the twin pillars of truth and trust to a country where it is acceptable for the president to attack truth and trust on a daily basis, watch out: Your kids won’t just grow up in a different America. They will grow up in a different world.

Continues at NYT

Written Testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford United States Senate Judiciary Committee September 2 6 , 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 15:36:00 +0000

Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, Members of the Committee. My name is Christine Blasey Ford. I am a Professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University and a Research Psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

I was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina and earned my degree in Experimental Psychology in 1988. I received a Master's degree in 1991 in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. In 1996, I received a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California. I earned a Master's degree in Epidemiology from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2009.

I have been married to Russell Ford since 2002 and we have two children.

I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school. I have described the events publicly before. I summarized them in my letter to Ranking Member Feinstein, and again in my letter to Chairman Grassley. I understand and appreciate the importance of your hearing from me directly about what happened to me and the impact it has had on my life and on my family.

I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. I attended the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, from 1980 to 1984. Holton-Arms is an all-girls school that opened in 1901. During my time at the school, girls at Holton-Arms frequently met and became friendly with boys from all-boys schools in the area, including Landon School, Georgetown Prep, Gonzaga High School, country clubs, and other places where kids and their families socialized. This is how I met Brett Kavanaugh, the boy who sexually assaulted me.

In my freshman and sophomore school years, when I was 14 and 15 years old, my group of friends intersected with Brett and his friends for a short period of time. I had been friendly with a classmate of Brett's for a short time during my freshman year, and it was through that connection that I attended a number of parties that Brett also attended. We did not know each other well, but I knew him and he knew me. In the summer of 1982, like most summers, I spent almost every day at the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland swimming and practicing diving.

One evening that summer, after a day of swimming at the club, I attended a small gathering at a house in the Chevy Chase/Bethesda area. There were four boys I remember being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, P.J. Smyth, and one other boy whose name I cannot recall. I remember my friend Leland Ingham attending. I do not remember all of the details of how that gathering came together, but like many that summer, it was almost surely a spur of the moment gathering. I truly wish I could provide detailed answers to all of the questions that have been and will be asked about how I got to the party, where it took place, and so forth. I don't have all the answers, and I don't remember as much as I would like to. But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget. They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult.

When I got to the small gathering, people were drinking beer in a small living room on the first floor of the house. I drank one beer that evening. Brett and Mark were visibly drunk. Early in the evening, I went up a narrow set of stairs leading from the living room to a second floor to use the bathroom. When I got to the top of the stairs, I was pushed from behind into a bedroom. I couldn't see who pushed me. Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them. There was music already playing in the bedroom. It was turned up louder by either Brett or Mark once we were in the room. I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me. I yelled, hoping someone downstairs might hear me, and tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy. Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was so drunk, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit under my clothes. I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming. This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me. Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time. Mark was urging Brett on, although at times he told Brett to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not.

During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. The last time he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me. I was able to get up and run out of the room. Directly across from the bedroom was a small bathroom. I ran inside the bathroom and locked the door. I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairs, pin-balling off the walls on the way down. I waited and when I did not hear them come back up the stairs, I left the bathroom, ran down the stairs, through the living room, and left the house. I remember being on the street and feeling an enormous sense of relief that I had escaped from the house and that Brett and Mark were not coming after me.

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. I did not want to tell my parents that I, at age 15, was in a house without any parents present, drinking beer with boys. I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should be able to move on and just pretend that it had never happened. Over the years, I told very few friends that I had this traumatic experience. I told my husband before we were married that I had experienced a sexual assault. I had never told the details to anyone until May 2012, during a couples counseling session. The reason this came up in counseling is that my husband and I had completed an extensive remodel of our home, and I insisted on a second front door, an idea that he and others disagreed with and could not understand. In explaining why I wanted to have a second front door, I described the assault in detail. I recall saying that the boy who assaulted me could someday be on the U.S. Supreme Court and spoke a bit about his background. My husband recalls that I named my attacker as Brett Kavanaugh.

After that May 2012 therapy session, I did my best to suppress memories of the assault because recounting the details caused me to relive the experience, and caused panic attacks and anxiety. Occasionally I would discuss the assault in individual therapy, but talking about it caused me to relive the trauma, so I tried not to think about it or discuss it. But over the years, I went through periods where I thought about Brett's attack. I confided in some close friends that I had an experience with sexual assault. Occasionally I stated that my assailant was a prominent lawyer or judge but I did not use his name. I do not recall each person I spoke to about Brett's assault, and some friends have reminded me of these conversations since the publication of The Washington Post story on September 16, 2018. But until July 2018, I had never named Mr. Kavanaugh as my attacker outside of therapy.

This all changed in early July 2018. I saw press reports stating that Brett Kavanaugh was on the "short list" of potential Supreme Court nominees. I thought it was my civic duty to relay the information I had about Mr. Kavanaugh's conduct so that those considering his potential nomination would know about the assault.

On July 6, 2018, I had a sense of urgency to relay the information to the Senate and the President as soon as possible before a nominee was selected. I called my congressional representative and let her receptionist know that someone on the President's shortlist had attacked me. I also sent a message to The Washington Post's confidential tip line. I did not use my name, but I provided the names of Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. I stated that Mr. Kavanaugh had assaulted me in the 1980s in Maryland. This was an extremely hard thing for me to do, but I felt I couldn't NOT do it. Over the next two days, I told a couple of close friends on the beach in California that Mr.Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted me. I was conflicted about whether to speak out.

On July 9, 2018, I received a call from the office of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo after Mr. Kavanaugh had become the nominee. I met with her staff on July 11 and with her on July 13, describing the assault and discussing my fear about coming forward. Later, we discussed the possibility of sending a letter to Ranking Member Feinstein, who is one of my state's Senators, describing what occurred. My understanding is that Representative Eshoo's office delivered a copy of my letter to Senator Feinstein's office on July 30, 2018. The letter included my name, but requested that the letter be kept confidential.

My hope was that providing the information confidentially would be sufficient to allow the Senate to consider Mr. Kavanaugh's serious misconduct without having to make myself, my family, or anyone's family vulnerable to the personal attacks and invasions of privacy we have faced since my name became public. In a letter on August 31, 2018, Senator Feinstein wrote that she would not share the letter without my consent. I greatly appreciated this commitment. All sexual assault victims should be able to decide for themselves whether their private experience is made public.

As the hearing date got closer, I struggled with a terrible choice: Do I share the facts with the Senate and put myself and my family in the public spotlight? Or do I preserve our privacy and allow the Senate to make its decision on Mr. Kavanaugh's nomination without knowing the full truth about his past behavior?

I agonized daily with this decision throughout August and early September 2018. The sense of duty that motivated me to reach out confidentially to The Washington Post, Representative Eshoo's office, and Senator Feinstein's office was always there, but my fears of the consequences of speaking out started to increase.

During August 2018, the press reported that Mr. Kavanaugh's confirmation was virtually certain. His allies painted him as a champion of women's rights and empowerment. I believed that if I came forward, my voice would be drowned out by a chorus of powerful supporters. By the time of the confirmation hearings, I had resigned myself to remaining quiet and letting the Committee and the Senate make their decision without knowing what Mr. Kavanaugh had done to me.

Once the press started reporting on the existence of the letter I had sent to Senator Feinstein, I faced mounting pressure. Reporters appeared at my home and at my job demanding information about this letter, including in the presence of my graduate students. They called my boss and co- workers and left me many messages, making it clear that my name would inevitably be released to the media. I decided to speak out publicly to a journalist who had responded to the tip I had sent to The Washington Post and who had gained my trust. It was important to me to describe the details of the assault in my own words.

Since September 16, the date of The Washington Post story, I have experienced an outpouring of support from people in every state of this country. Thousands of people who have had their lives dramatically altered by sexual violence have reached out to share their own experiences with me and have thanked me for coming forward. We have received tremendous support from friends and our community.

At the same time, my greatest fears have been realized -- and the reality has been far worse than what I expected. My family and I have been the target of constant harassment and death threats. I have been called the most vile and hateful names imaginable. These messages, while far fewer than the expressions of support, have been terrifying to receive and have rocked me to my core. People have posted my personal information on the internet. This has resulted in additional emails, calls, and threats. My family and I were forced to move out of our home. Since September 16, my family and I have been living in various secure locales, with guards. This past Tuesday evening, my work email account was hacked and messages were sent out supposedly recanting my description of the sexual assault.

Apart from the assault itself, these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life. I have had to relive my trauma in front of the entire world, and have seen my life picked apart by people on television, in the media, and in this body who have never met me or spoken with me. I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives. Those who say that do not know me. I am a fiercely independent person and I am no one's pawn. My motivation in coming forward was to provide the facts about how Mr. Kavanaugh's actions have damaged my life, so that you can take that into serious consideration as you make your decision about how to proceed. It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. My responsibility is to tell the truth.

I understand that the Majority has hired a professional prosecutor to ask me some questions, and I am committed to doing my very best to answer them. At the same time, because the Committee Members will be judging my credibility, I hope to be able to engage directly with each of you.

At this point, I will do my best to answer your questions.

Beware, Republicans, Kavanaugh’s accuser has options

noreply@blogger.com (Amarissa) — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 23:42:00 +0000

Seenate Republicans strongly signaled on Wednesday that they will forge ahead with embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation as his accuser called the rush for a public hearing next week unfair.

GOP senators who fretted earlier this week about the prospects for President Trump’s pick are now largely pushing for a vote on Kavanaugh, who is accused of sexually assaulting now-professor Christine Blasey Ford when they were teenagers, amid signs that she may decline to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And Trump is more convinced he should stand by Kavanaugh than he was two days ago, people close to the White House say.

Trump, whom a flock of women has accused of harassment and assault, and the all-male Republican contingent on the Senate Judiciary Committee might think they have Ford cornered. The reality is that she has many options, some of which are far more dangerous to Republicans than what she has demanded, namely an FBI investigation.

Ford might choose to appear on Monday, and make a powerful opening statement accusing Republicans of running a sham investigation. Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has figured out it would be a good idea to interview her in advance of Monday’s hearings, but the staffers conducting the interview would be unlikely to have the ability or the will to follow up on investigative leads. Ford can and should refuse to give her inquisitors two bites at the apple. When she gets in front of the cameras, she should remind the country:

This concerns attempted rape, something far more serious than the allegations raised by Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas during his 1991 confirmation hearings.

•The FBI investigated Hill’s claims within three days (Republicans could have sent the FBI and gotten a report back by now if they hadn’t been stalling).

• Mark Judge allegedly witnessed the attack, but Republicans refuse to call him as a witness, so we can assume that they regard him as a person who would harm Kavanaugh’s defense.

• Republicans’ insistence that Ford provide even more detail is hypocritical (since they don’t want an FBI investigation) and misguided, given the large body of research concerning memories of victims of sexual assault (e.g., gaps in memory are common).

• If Kavanaugh was an excessive drinker in high school, as has been alleged, he’s in no position to testify accurately as to what he did and didn’t do.

• The unsubstantiated attacks on Ford by members such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reveal that they have predetermined the outcome of the hearing. (“She had plenty of chances to bring it up, she did not,” Graham said. “We’re not going to play this game anymore. We [want] Miss Ford to be heard but clearly to me, in August, she hired a lawyer who’s a very activist lawyer, who does not like President Trump and paid for a polygraph.”) But this is no “game,” and Ford has every right to seek counsel to fend off attacks like the very ones that Republican senators are making.

CONTINUES AT WAPO