5 Key Moments From Christine Blasey Ford's Testimony On Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON, DC — Christine Blasey Ford, the psychology professor and research psychologist who publicly accused President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, has concluded her testimony in a showdown before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kavanuagh, who has emphatically denied Ford's and other women's accusations, began testifying Thursday afternoon.

Ford's account of what happened at a party in the summer of 1982, delivered in a soft and sometimes-halting voice, came as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds an extraordinary session Republicans hope will salvage Kavanaugh's chances of joining the high court. Ford showed no hesitancy in affirming the crucial question about the alleged incident, telling senators that her certainty that Kavanaugh was her attacker was "100 percent."

Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto State University and a research psychologist at Stanford University, said in her opening statement that she believed Kavanaugh was going to rape her at a party in the summer of 1982. She had spent almost every day that summer swimming and practicing diving at the Columbia County Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and one evening attended a small gathering at a nearby house.

At the gathering, Ford says she went up a set of stairs to use the bathroom when she was pushed from behind into a bedroom. While she said she didn't see who pushed her, Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, entered the room and locked the door behind them, she said, adding the two were "visibly drunk."

Ford recounted that she was pushed onto a bed, where she said Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes. In her testimony, Ford said what terrified her the most was when Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth as she screamed.

"This was what terrified me the most, and has the most lasting impact on my life," she said.

As Kavanaugh begins his testimony, here are five key moments from the hearing so far:

Ford: Not A Case Of Mistaken Identity

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the judiciary committee, asked Ford how she was sure that it was Kavanaugh who attacked her.

"The same way that I am sure that I am talking to you right now," Ford responded. Citing her expertise as a psychology professor and a research psychologist, Ford also explained how traumatic memories get encoded into the brain while other details may be hazy.

"Also, just the level of norepinephrine and epinephrine in the brain that sort of, as you know encodes, that neurotransmitter encodes memories into the hippocampus and so the trauma-related experience then is kind of locked there whereas other details kind of drift," she explained.

"So what you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity?" Feinstein followed up.

"Absolutely not," said Ford.

A Second Front Door

In her opening statement, Ford said she first told her husband the details of the assault at a couples' counseling session in 2012. Ford said they had just renovated their home and she had insisted on having a second front door, an idea her husband disagreed with.

When she was questioned by Feinstein, Ford explained that the reason for the second front door was the claustrophobia she suffers from as a result of the attack.

"Our house does not look aesthetically pleasing from the curb," she said.

Why She Could Establish Detailed Timeline

Judge, the man Ford says was in the room at the time of the attack, used to work at a Safeway, she said. Ford told Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor asking questions on behalf of the Republicans on the committee, that she saw Judge once after the attack at the Potomac Village Safeway.

Ford said she could provide a more detailed timeline as to when the attack occurred if it could be determined when Judge worked at the Safeway.

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Fear Of Flying

When asked by Mitchell whether it was true that Ford would not submit to an interview with the committee because of a fear of flying, Ford said she was hoping the committee would come to her and she could avoid getting on an airplane but later realized that it was an unrealistic request.

"I eventually was able to get up the gumption with the help of some friends and get on the plane," Ford said.

A friend of Ford's, Kate DeVarney, told CNN earlier this week that Ford has a hard time being in a place with no escape route and that was the reason she did not enjoy flying.

Mitchell asked Ford multiple questions about her flying history and Ford acknowledged that she flies to Delaware once a year to visit family and has traveled by air for vacation.

Some watching the hearing noted that they themselves have a fear of flying but that does not stop them from getting on a plane.

Polygraph Test

Ford said she submitted to a polygraph test at the advice of her legal counsel. She said she found the test "extremely stressful."

Asked why the polygraph test was administered at a hotel near Baltimore Washington International Airport and not at the polygrapher's office in Virginia, Ford said she had left her grandmother's funeral at Fort Lincoln cemetery and was on a tight schedule to get on a plane to Manchester, New Hampshire. She said she appreciated that the former FBI agent who administered the test was able to come to her.

Ford was asked by Mitchell if she had had discussions with anyone besides her attorneys on how to take a polygraph test, including any tips, and she said that she had not.

"I was scared of the test itself but was comfortable that I could tell the information and the test would reveal whatever it was going to reveal, I didn't expect it to be as long as it was gonna be so it was a little bit stressful," Ford said.

Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Photo: Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. Photo by Andrew Harnik, Pool/Associated Press