The sex crimes prosecutor who questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford on behalf of Senate Republicans said she wouldn’t have prosecuted a case against Brett Kavanaugh based on the allegations she heard.
Rachel Mitchell was appointed by Senate Republicans to question Ford during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to avoid the optics of 11 men questioning a woman about an alleged sexual assault. Now the registered Republican and experienced sex crimes prosecutor is arguing in a five-page memo to Senate Republicans, reported by the Washington Post, that Ford’s allegation is inconsistent and that she therefore doesn’t think a “reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the Committee.”
Ford accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a party in the 1980s when both were teenagers, but she has been unable to recall some details about the night in question, including the precise date and how she got home.
However, Senate Democrats have argued throughout the process that the proceedings do not constitute a trial, but a job interview, and that Ford’s allegations are one of several causes for skepticism that Kavanaugh is well suited to the position.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted narrowly to send Kavanaugh’s nomination for a vote in the full Senate on Friday. However the FBI is carrying out an investigation into Ford’s allegations, as well as allegations made by a second woman, Deborah Ramirez.