Trump attacks Kavanaugh accuser Dr Ford's trauma, memory

 

KARACHI/MISSISSIPPI: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night attacked one of the three — and the first — women who accused his Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault, saying "these are really evil people".

Speaking to ardent followers at a rally here in Mississippi, Trump defended Kavanaugh and "what he's going through" and threw doubts, once again, on the credibility of Dr Christine Blasey Ford, who testified during a highly-anticipated and globally-watched Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, on September 27.

"36 years ago, this happened … I had one beer, I had one beer. Well, you think there wa- nope, there was one beer … oh good," he said.

"How did you get home? I don't remember … How did you there? I don't remember … Where was this place? I don't remember … How many years ago was it? I don't know," Trump mocked to raucous cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Encouraged by the response of the audience, which was chanting "We want Kavanaugh", Trump continued mimicking Dr Ford.

"I don't know, I don't know … What neighbourhood? I don't know … Where's the house? I don't know … Upstairs, downstairs, where was this? I don't know … But I had one beer, that's the only thing I remember."

This is the second time in the past couple of weeks that Trump has attacked Dr Ford and her traumatic memory — or what Senator Chris Coons better described during the Senate hearing as "how it’s common for sexual assault survivors to remember some facts about the experience very sharply and very clearly, but not others".

"That has to do with the survival mode that we go into in experiencing trauma," Coons had said.

"A man's life is in tatters … a man's life is shattered, his wife is shattered, his daughters … who are beautiful, incredible, young kids. They destroy people, they wanna destroy people, these are really evil people," Trump said towards the end of his outburst.

'As bad as she says'

Was it 'as bad as she says'? Trump attacks Kavanaugh sex accuser's credibility

Trump took to Twitter to question her account of what happened between her and Kavanaugh at a party in 1982 when they were in high school

On September 22, Trump had first sought to cast doubt on Dr Ford, saying if the attack was “as bad as she says”, it would have been immediately reported to police.

After days of restrained comments on the allegations by the Californian professor, Trump had taken to Twitter to question her account of what happened between her and Kavanaugh at a party in 1982 when they were in high school.

"Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.," he had written on Twitter.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. 

"I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place," he added.

The tweets had come as Democrats demanded more time for scrutiny and Republicans wanted to move ahead quickly with a confirmation vote in an increasingly volatile political climate ahead of the November 6 congressional elections.