Elizabeth Warren Has a Powerful Message for Sexual Assault Survivors Watching the Kavanaugh Hearing
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D—Mass.) on Thursday spoke with Glamour exclusively about the historic Senate hearing involving Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the Republican push to move forward with his confirmation, calling it “fundamentally wrong.”
At the Hart Senate Office building, where Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford was also testifying, Warren stood alongside Ford’s supporters, telling Glamour that she was, “here with people of conscience who believe that when a woman comes forward that she has a right to be listened to, and there needs to be a full investigation.”
“The fact that Republicans want to go forward treating this woman and other women who have come forward as if their claims don’t matter is an insult to every single woman in this country,” she said. “It is fundamentally wrong.”
Ford appeared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning to give her testimony of an event that she says occurred more than 30 years ago, when Kavanaugh allegedly pinned her to a bed, attempted to take her clothes off and covered her mouth with his hand as she screamed.
“I believed he was going to rape me. It was hard for me to breathe and I believed that Brett was going to accidentally kill me,” she told the committee.
As she spoke, people supportive of Ford gathered outside in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office building. Many listened to the simulcast of the professor’s testimony on their cell phones, at times looking anguished or openly crying. Some silently held their fists in the air; others wore strips of tape over their mouths.
PHOTO: Zach Gibson
When asked if she believed that Kavanaugh would still be confirmed despite multiple women accusing him of sexual assault, Warren said, “I don’t know. I truly don’t know. But I do know that people across this country are paying attention, and that this is not alright.”
She also went on to criticize her Republican colleagues, saying, “this is a moral question.”
“The fact that [Republicans] want to ram this through and not have an investigation, that [Senator] Mitch McConnell goes in front of his big donors and says I’m going to ram this thing through, it’s not right. That treats every woman with disrespect. It treats everyone who has been a victim of sexual assault with disrespect. It treats human beings as if their claims are meaningless and that powerful men can do whatever they want to do. And it’s just not right.”
You can watch the Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, here.