How to watch the Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh hearings live - and what to expect
- Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford are both scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
- Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school.
- Deborah Ramirez has also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were in college.
- Kavanaugh is a deeply divisive nominee - more Americans (43%) oppose his nomination than support it (38%), according to a new poll.
- Here's where you can watch the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing live.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and one of the women who has accused the judge of sexual misconduct are scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, September 27 beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
After opening statements from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh will deliver their own opening statements.
The senators will question them separately, with Ford going first. Senators can also yield the five minutes they're each allotted to an independent counsel to have them ask the questions.
Grassley said on Tuesday he has hired Rachel Mitchell, a career prosecutor experienced in handling sex crimes, to question both Kavanaugh and Ford. A committee vote to confirm Kavanaugh is tentatively scheduled for Friday.
As the blockbuster hearing is likely to gather a lot of attention, most news and major networks will likely broadcast it live on TV and online.
Where to watch the livestream online
- C-SPAN (no subscription required)
- ABC News (no subscription required)
- CBSN (no subscription required)
- Fox News (first 10 minutes are free)
- NBC (subscription only)
- CNN (subscription only)
- MSNBC (subscription only)
A deeply divisive nomination
Ford, now a professor of psychology, says Kavanaugh forced himself on her, locked her in a room, groped her, and covered her mouth to mask her screams during a drunken house party when she was 15 and he was 17.
"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford told the Washington Post. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
Nearly 60% of Americans say they will be following the proceedings closely, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, which also found that about a third of Americans - 32% - believe Ford's allegations, while 26% believe Kavanaugh's denials, and 42% don't know who to believe.
And there's a 19-point gender gap in the responses. Just 20% of women believe Kavanaugh and 35% believe Ford, while 35% of men believe the judge and 28% believe his accuser.
But a large majority of Americans believe that if Kavanaugh did indeed attack Ford, he should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Nearly 60% say that if Ford's allegations are true, Kavanaugh isn't fit to sit on the country's highest court, but a majority of Republicans (54%) say the judge should be confirmed even if the allegations of sexual misconduct are true.
Public opinion is markedly more supportive of the alleged victim in this case than it was in 1991, when law professor Anita Hill said Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her in the workplace. She testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee then, too, in a highly publicized spectacle.
Overall, more Americans (43%) oppose Kavanaugh's nomination than support it (38%).
Deborah Ramirez has also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were in college.
Kavanaugh has forcefully denied both women's allegations, calling the claims "smears, pure and simple" and "grotesque and obvious character assassination" in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
During a Monday interview with Fox News, he said he wouldn't "speculate about motives."
"I am not questioning and have not questioned that perhaps Dr. Ford, at some point in her life, was sexually assaulted by someone in some place," Kavanaugh said. "But what I know is I've never sexually assaulted anyone in high school or at any time in my life."