Friday News Roundup - Domestic

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Published September 28, 2018 at 10:06 AM EDT

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: Christine Blasey Ford swears in at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

On Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.

When asked how certain she is that Kavanaugh assaulted her, Blasey Ford told the committee: “100 percent.”

From her opening statement:

Apart from the assault itself, these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life. I have had to relive my trauma in front of the entire world, and have seen my life picked apart by people on television, in the media, and in this body who have never met me or spoken with me. I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives. Those who say that do not know me. I am a fiercely independent person and I am no one’s pawn. My motivation in coming forward was to provide the facts about how Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions have damaged my life, so that you can take that into serious consideration as you make your decision about how to proceed. It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. My responsibility is to tell the truth.

Kavanaugh was brought into the hearing room after Blasey Ford left.

“My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed,” he told the committee. “This confirmation process has become a national disgrace. You have replaced ‘advice and consent’ with ‘search and destroy.’”

What to make of what was heard on the Hill?

Also out of Washington, President Trump postponed Thursday’s meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. According to Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, “they do not want to do anything to interfere with the hearing.” The two will discuss Rosenstein’s future at the Justice Department at a later date.

Plus, we get some thoughts on where Amazon’s HQ2 will land from the online giant’s home base: Seattle.

*Text by Kathryn Fink*.

GUESTS

Ron Elving, Senior editor and correspondent, NPR; @nprrelving

Joni Balter, Adjunct professor, Seattle University; host of Civic Cocktail on the Seattle Channel

C.R. Douglas, Political analyst, Q13 News – Seattle’s FOX TV affiliate

For more, visit https://the1a.org.