Sen. Lindsey Graham confronted critics as Christine Blasey Ford testified that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court Justice nominee Christine Blasey Ford
Robyn Swirling, a 32-year-old Washington, D. C., resident, was on Capitol Hill on Thursday when she saw Sen. Lindsey Graham heading down a hallway. She told him she had been raped.
“I’m sorry,” the South Carolina Republican said, not breaking his stride as he headed into an elevator.
Before the doors closed, he added, “You should have told the cops.”
It was a scene from a highly emotional day, where the Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who is accusing Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her in 1982.
Graham, a committee member, has emerged as one of Kavanaugh’s most full-throated defenders. He began the day with news interviews on CBS and Fox before heading to the hearing. He is a senior committee member, in line for the chairmanship in the next Congress if Republicans keep the Senate.
He said he had spoken to people at the White House about his rounds on the conservative media circuit to decry the accusations against Kavanaugh as Democrats try hard to take down a Republican nominee.
“I said, ‘Hang in there. Just look at each accusation, they’re all crumbling,’” Graham said.
He had also spoken personally with President Donald Trump: “He thinks this thing is a big debacle.”
But while Republicans might be pleased, Graham has incensed detractors.
Earlier in the day, he attempted to engage with reporters while a large handful of women surrounded him with signs that read “I believe survivors,” and “I believe Christine.”
At the hearing itself, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, read aloud a portion of Graham’s 2015 autobiography where he described the experience of defending rape victims during his years as an attorney.
“I learned how much unexpected courage from a deep and hidden place it takes for a rape victim or sexually abused child to testify against their assailants,” Blumenthal read from Graham’s memoir.
Graham was not fazed by the reminder from that earlier time in his life.
“I think it’s absolutely true,” Graham said later to reporters. “But I’ve also defended people who were accused of rape who almost killed themselves and eventually got acquitted. So it goes both ways.”
Graham chose not to question Ford at the hearing. The committee’s 11 Republicans instead let Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona sex crimes prosecutor hired by the GOP staff, quiz Blasey Ford during his five minutes of allotted speaking time.
“I think it’s better to get continuity, to just yield our time to somebody who knows what they’re doing so you have a better flow of information,” said Graham.
He added that having a woman asking questions was the suggestion of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is considered one of the swing votes on the Kavanaugh nomination. She, like others, was concerned with the optics of having only Republican men question a woman alleging sexual assault.
Graham denied this was a consideration for him.
“The reason I don’t feel that way is nobody accused me of not being able to judge (Sonia) Sotomayor and (Elena) Kagan,” Graham said of the two female Supreme Court justices whose nominations he supported despite them being nominated by a Democratic president, Barack Obama.
Graham said he was ultimately unmoved by Ford’s testimony, which he said did not prove that she had been assaulted by Kavanaugh specifically.
