The commotion over Whelan’s imprudent decision to publicize the name and face of another classmate prevented many people from considering the other arguments that he made in the series of tweets. In fact, none of the persons who allegedly attended the party lived near Columbia Country Club. Since they had a common friend who lived only a half-mile from the club, it is implausible that someone two miles away would have been considered “near” the club. And it is also logical to assume that a small house party would have taken place at the home of one of the attendees.
The theory—perhaps born of wishful thinking—that Ford could have confused Kavanaugh with this other young man was implausible, particularly since it turned out that Ford had dated the other boy at one point. But it was more reasonable to imagine that if Ford had been drinking heavily, as she was known for doing, her memory could have been clouded. And the one possibility the media refused to consider was plain: if Ford were fabricating a story, she could well have used details of locations she knew or parties she had attended. Whelan’s tweets were not the silver bullet they were advertised to be, but he did raise legitimate questions about Ford’s story, questions that were overlooked in the ensuing furor.
That same Thursday evening, Katz said that Ford might testify if certain conditions were met. She told the committee staff that Ford needed time to secure her family and travel to Washington. She ruled out a Monday hearing and began pushing for Thursday. She also stipulated the following conditions:
• Kavanaugh was not to appear in the same room as Ford.
• Kavanaugh must testify first.
• Only senators could ask the questions.
• Mark Judge must be required to testify.
• Ford must have unlimited time for her opening statement.
• The number of cameras in the hearing room must be limited.55
Ricki Seidman, a longtime Democratic operative and Clinton White House insider, was revealed to be part of Ford’s legal team as well.56 The Weekly Standard had reported in 1996, “Seidman’s resume reads like a fantasy of liberal and Democratic activism.” She had been the legal director for Norman Lear’s People for the American Way, where she was responsible for the vicious attack ad on Robert Bork. While at Ted Kennedy’s office, she was credited with persuading the reluctant Anita Hill to come out with her harassment story. When the Judiciary Committee failed to listen, according to contemporary sources, Seidman helped leak the story to the press. She figures prominently in HBO’s pro-Hill drama Confirmation.57 When Kavanaugh was nominated, she was bragging of having worked on one side or the other of every Supreme Court nomination since the elevation of Rehnquist to chief justice, the sole exception being the Gorsuch confirmation.58
While they decided how to respond to Ford’s various demands, Republicans had one problem that required an unorthodox solution. Democratic senators had earlier complained that it was inappropriate for the Republican men of the Judiciary Committee to question Ford, so the Republicans were arranging for an outside lawyer to handle their questioning.
That Friday, President Trump’s uncharacteristic Twitter restraint finally ended when he tweeted, “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!”59
Senator Susan Collins, whose support was indispensable, was appalled: “I thought that the president’s tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong.”60 Trump’s comments also dismayed his critics from the right who had grudgingly approved of his judicial appointments. Jonathan Last argued in the Weekly Standard that the nomination should be withdrawn and Kavanaugh replaced with someone who could be “portrayed” as more conservative. The Court’s rulings, he wrote, “would have more legitimacy in the eyes of the public if the deciding vote is cast by someone other than Brett Kavanaugh.”61
Whatever its rough edges, Trump’s statement did signal the administration’s willingness to stand behind Kavanaugh. A more productive, if no less fervent, show of support came from the Senate majority leader the same day. McConnell told an audience at the Values Voters Summit: “You’ve watched the fight. You’ve watched the tactics. But here’s what I want to tell you. In the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court.” Senate Republicans, he promised, were going to “plow right through it and do our job.”62 The crowd went wild.
Kavanaugh’s closest supporters were divided over how to proceed. The White House team wanted to fight, but his many friends from the Bush era encouraged an appeal to decency, rebutting the accusations but emphasizing his strong relationships with women. Such an appeal would be insufficient, the White House team thought, but it couldn’t do any harm, so they encouraged Kavanaugh’s friends to try it. On Friday, eighty-seven women who knew Kavanaugh throughout his life held a press conference. It received almost no media coverage.
Kavanaugh supporters were facing the reality that most of the media were not merely biased against him but were full participants in the opposition. The conservative group Concerned Women for America (CWA) brought its Iowa state director to Grassley’s office. CNN’s Sunlen Serfaty said there was no time to talk to her, even as the cable outlet pulled protester after protester out of the crowd to interview. Another CNN reporter pretended to be on a phone call when hundreds of female Kavanaugh supporters came to visit Flake. One CBS reporter flat out told CWA that he wasn’t there to cover pro-Kavanaugh forces.
One female Kavanaugh clerk who was doing extensive media in support of the nomination said she eventually realized that prerecorded interviews weren’t worth the time, since her statements in support of Kavanaugh would be edited out. The only way to break through was to do live interviews where producers couldn’t hide support for Kavanaugh.
Conservative and alternative media became a lifeline for the nomination. Outside groups began streaming their own rallies and advocacy efforts on Facebook Live. With the New York Times and Washington Post serving as the public relations arm of the anti-Kavanaugh movement, conservative media began breaking stories and debunking false story lines. Later, Christopher Scalia, a son of the late justice, tweeted, “Imagine what these past few weeks would have been like without a strong conservative media presence to fight the bias and credulity of so many other outlets.” Robert Bork Jr. pointedly responded, “Yes. Yes, I can.”63
Grassley kept extending the deadline for Ford to accept the offer to testify. He had initially set it for Friday morning, then Friday afternoon, then Friday night.64 Late Friday, after Ford’s attorney called the deadline “arbitrary” and an attempt to “bully” her, he moved it to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Unappeased, Katz told the committee in an email, “The imposition of aggressive and artificial deadlines regarding the date and conditions of any hearing has created tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress on Dr. Ford. Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate.”65
Senator Grassley, who believed he had been more than fair, grew exasperated. He tweeted, “With all the extensions we give Dr. Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor.”66 In reality, the people calling the shots were Republican senators who insisted they needed a public hearing to feel comfortable voting for Kavanaugh. Collins joined Judiciary Committee Republicans in insisting on accommodating Ford. She thought it silly to fight over which day of the week Ford would testify. If the Senate needed to send a plane or a private car to get her, that was fine as well.