Ford was seated at a table in the packed hearing room flanked by her lawyers, facing a bank of senators. Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor hired by Republicans to query Ford, opened her questioning by sympathizing with Ford. The committee could vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation on Friday, with a final Senate vote early next week. Kavanaugh's confirmation would cement conservative control of the high court as Trump moves to shift it and the broader federal judiciary to the right. Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, have also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the 1980s.

Source: dna September 27, 2018 15:45 UTC