Rachel Mitchell, who was tapped to question Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford about her allegations that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school, has never been involved in such a high-profile case or faced the glare of the national media.
One aspect of her background that could be key: Mitchell, who runs the special victims division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, championed a manual for local prosecutors that recommends questioning victims of sexual assault with a “neutral, fact finding attitude,” placing the “best interest of the victim” first.
.. But by choosing an unknown for the task, Republicans have taken a risk — gambling that Mitchell finds a way, in her first turn on the national stage, to successfully deliver tough but empathetic questions.
If Mitchell turns out to be the fair and evenhanded questioner that Republicans said they want, there could be dangers for the embattled nominee: What if Ford appears credible in the face of such questioning? What if Kavanaugh struggles?
“There’s no telling what’s going to happen here,” said Nick Ackerman, who served as an assistant special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. “If she does what she normally does and she’s legitimate and is good at this because she’s been doing this for a long time, [Republicans] could find themselves in a major pickle.”
.. The hearing also carries risks for the committee’s 10 Democrats, a group that includes several aspiring presidential candidates. Any political showboating could contrast poorly with the calm delivery of a professional prosecutor, experts said.
.. Colleagues who have faced her in court praised Mitchell as having an empathetic, professional questioning style.
.. “She was prepared. She was thorough. She definitely knew how to do the questions to elicit information that was needed,”
.. Warner said she had never seen Mitchell badger witnesses or treat them with disrespect.
.. Each senator will be given five minutes to ask questions of both Ford and Kavanaugh. But most — if not all — Republican senators are expected to delegate their time to Mitchell.
.. A senior Republican aide said the committee hopes Mitchell will press Ford on the details she has said she cannot remember, including the timeline of events around her allegations about Kavanaugh. They also hope Mitchell will push Ford about when and how she decided to come forward and her interactions with Democratic staffers.
.. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, predicted the outcome of Thursday’s hearing will “largely turn on what sort of tone and approach she takes.”
.. Reaves predicted that neither Republicans nor Democrats would ultimately be pleased with Mitchell.
“She’s going to be so good,” he said, “that both sides are going to have problems with her.”
How Ford’s Kavanaugh Allegation Came to Light
An allegation of decades-old sexual misconduct is threatening Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains how the allegation came to light at the 11th hour. Photo: AP
‘I Fear for Lady Justice’: Judge Jeanine Slams Democrats’ Handling of Kavanaugh Allegation
In her Opening Statement on Saturday, Judge Jeanine Pirro weighed in on the controversy surrounding Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and Democrats’ “stunning” dismissal of the fundamental rules of the American justice system.
California professor Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school party in the 1980s, which has thrown Kavanaugh’s confirmation process into chaos.
Judge Jeanine said that many Democratic lawmakers have immediately assumed that Ford is telling the truth, Kavanaugh is guilty and he should not be seated on the high court.
“Forget a trial, due process or even hearing from the victim, the Constitution be damned,” Judge Jeanine said.
Ford runs circles around hapless Republicans, who now have a second scandal
Ford attorney Debra Katz repeatedly has stared down Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), swatting away one artificial deadline after another. Grassley told her he needed an answer by Friday at 10 a.m. That got pushed to 10 p.m., and then to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Katz rightly called these deadlines arbitrary and more importantly knew she had leverage.
.. With Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona saying they wanted to hear from Ford before voting, Grassley couldn’t very well cut off discussion. He didn’t have the votes to confirm the nominee.
.. If Republicans were hoping to intimidate Ford it didn’t work. Rather it revealed that there is a slim chance, more than zero, that Republicans might not have the votes after this next week.
.. Republicans have made repeated, stupid mistakes that have not helped their position.
- President Trump attacked Ford, asserting she would have gone to the police as a 15-year-old if the attempted rape was “that bad.” Collins pronounced herself “appalled.”
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) repeatedly vowed he would confirm Kavanaugh. They’d “plow through” he declared, a remarkable confession that they’ll bulldoze Ford and vote to confirm no matter what.
The public can conclude Republicans have no problem sitting Kavanaugh even if Ford’s claim is true.
.. Nevertheless, it appears someone communicated her name to Whelan before it was made public.
.. The question now is whether anyone at the White House, Kavanaugh or at the Senate Judiciary Committee was involved in the harebrained scheme to accuse a classmate of Kavanaugh’s under the bonkers theory Ford got the identity of her attacker “confused.”
.. Well, someone told Whelan what was up, and any coordination with Kavanaugh (for example, via the right-wing PR outfit CRC, who hyped Whelan’s revelation), would be separate grounds for denying him confirmation and would also ensnare the judge in the host of civil and ethical problems Whelan created.
.. As if that weren’t enough, an employee of CRC on loan to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garrett Ventry, resigned for falsifying his résumé and for alleged sexual harassment.
.. Even if they had tried, Republicans could have not done a better job demonstrating their bias, ineptitude, unseriousness, meanness, unfairness and general lack of empathy.
.. There are now at least two related scandals : 1.) Whether Kavanaugh attacked Ford and now is lying, and 2.) the identities of those involved in a reprehensible scheme to pin a crime on someone for which there is zero evidence of wrongdoing. Between Trump’s ridiculous assertion that a 15-year-old’s failure to report a sex crime (which launched the #WhyIDidntReport social media phenomenon) and the nutty mistaken identity plot (which seems to concede Ford was attacked)
.. Free advice: Cut their losses, get Kavanaugh to withdraw and promise a better nominee with no baggage later this year or next.