PALO ALTO, Calif. _ As Christine Blasey Ford prepares to finally face the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday with her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, her friends, neighbors and community are feeling for her: the nerves, the pressure, the fear.
"I just have this increasing knot in my stomach all week of what she's heading into," said Bulbul Gupta, a Palo Alto resident and college rape survivor who plans to watch the testimony Thursday. "I worry for her."
Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford alleges that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 at a party.
After weeks of headlines that have drawn support from the #MeToo movement across the country, and the ire of critics, including President Donald Trump, who contend the allegations are either a case of mistaken identity or a smear campaign at the hands of Democrats, Blasey Ford is expected to appear on Capitol Hill at 7a.m. Pacific time Thursday. The 11 Republican senators on the committee have chosen a female prosecutor from Arizona to question Blasey Ford on their behalf.
Palo Alto Mayor Liz Kniss, who came forward earlier this week with her own stories of sexual assault when she was a young woman, is opening the City Hall community room at 8 a.m. Thursday for a "gathering," where C-SPAN will be playing the testimony live. Outside City Hall, a rally is planned at 11:30 a.m.
"I cannot tell you how much I admire what she's going to do, in public, with an enormous audience of viewers," said Kniss, who had kept her own stories of assault secret for more than 50 years before opening up to this news organization last week during an interview after a rally had broken up in front of Blasey Ford's house. "I'm just astonished at it."
Like the historic Anita Hill hearings in 1991 when she accused then-nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in the workplace, Blasey Ford _ a Palo Alto professor and mother of two teenage boys _ will be accusing nominee Brett Kavanaugh, in person, of sexual assault at a house party in suburban Washington, D.C., when they were teenagers.
The stakes couldn't be higher, with the future of the U.S. Supreme Court in the balance. Kavanaugh has adamantly denied Blasey Ford's allegations, saying he never attended such a party and never sexually assaulted anyone. He has also denied two subsequent allegations from women from his youth. One woman, Deborah Ramirez, came forward in a New Yorker article saying Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken dorm party at Yale University. Another, Julie Swetnick, surfaced Wednesday through lawyer Michael Avenatti (who also represents porn star Stormy Daniels), claiming that Kavanaugh was present at drunken parties where young women were abused, their drinks spiked and, in her case, gang raped.
Whether Blasey Ford's testimony will end the Supreme Court prospects of Kavanaugh is uncertain, but many in her community are behind her.
"I am kind of in awe and full of admiration for her courage in seeing this through," said Megan Myers, who linked arms with other rally-goers in front of Blasey Ford's house last week. "Many people would step aside at this point and say this is too hard. And she hasn't even testified yet."
Still, some are fearful at the whole process and its aftermath _ especially any retribution against her close friends who are vouching for her. In affidavits submitted to the Judiciary Committee, her husband, Russell Ford, and three friends from the Palo Alto area say that in recent years _ well before Kavanaugh's nomination _ Blasey Ford told them she had been sexually assaulted in high school by a man who went on to be a high-ranking federal judge. Blasey Ford moved her family out of their home the day her story appeared in The Washington Post and she started receiving death threats.
"They've all put their names out there," said Mora Oommen, who is helping organize Thursday's rally at City Hall. "If something happens and his confirmation doesn't take place, he'll pin it on a very few people. The way this is playing out now, it's unnerving. I hope they have the protection they need."
