Christine Blasey Ford has a credibility problem

Christine Blasey Ford was emotional during last week’s hearing as more than 20 million people watched. But just because she was emotional does not mean she is credible. 

A recently released memo by Rachel Mitchell, the 25-year career prosecutor who cross-examined Ford during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, lays bare Ford’s inconsistencies in her allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The memo notes that a “ ‘he said, she said’ case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that.” She went on to write that no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case to court, and it is not even sufficient to satisfy the “preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.”

{mosads}Despite Ford’s story being in the public domain for more than two weeks, it has gone unquestioned by the mainstream media and weaponized by the political left. This is incredibly dangerous. Her allegation should be examined vigorously, considering that Judge Kavanaugh’s life and future also hang in the balance. 

The only details Ford seems to remember are ones that are damaging to Kavanaugh. She remembers what he allegedly did and that he was drunk, and says she had the good judgment to only have one drink. But Ford seemingly does not remember how she got to the party in question, how she got home, where it was or when it was.

Most damaging to her story is the fact that every witness she has named has denied being at the party, under penalty of felony — even her best friend, Leland Keyser. Keyser’s attorney put out a statement saying, “Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.”

Ford has struggled to keep her story straight. She refuses to turn over her therapy notes, which she has cited as evidence of the attack even though she says Kavanaugh’s name is not mentioned in them. Ford has given different accounts of when the decades-old party took place. In a text message to The Washington Post she said it happened in the “mid 1980s.” A July 30 letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), ranking member of the committee, stated “early ’80s.” However, she somehow narrowed it down to the summer of 1982 in a Sept. 16 Washington Post article. As Mitchell notes in her memo, Ford has not explained how she was able to do that. 

The Washington Post also reported that her notes from a 2013 individual therapy session state the event happened in her late teens, but now she is saying she was 15. Ford’s story about how many people were at the party also has shifted greatly. Her therapist’s notes from 2012 reportedly say there were four attackers, but the Post reported four boys at the party and two attackers. In her polygraph letter alone she gives two different accounts, originally writing four people and then crossing that off to write four boys and two girls. 

Even if you want to give Ford the benefit of the doubt that her memory is just cloudy after 36 years, her failure to recall recent events is very troubling. Ford testified that she does not remember whether she showed The Washington Post her therapy notes or if she summarized them. The Washington Post reported that Ford provided portions of the notes to them. 

Oddly, Ford could not remember if she took the polygraph test on the same day as her grandmother’s funeral or after. She couldn’t remember who paid for it or if it was audio- or video-recorded. Ford also testified that her memories surfaced during a fight with her husband over installing a second door during home renovations; she said she needed another exit because of the trauma she experienced. However, it has been reported that the door was installed years before as a separate entrance for a room they rented out to people and a marriage-counseling business. 

Ford and her attorneys have cited her fear of flying to the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay the originally scheduled hearing. Yet she admitted under oath that she flies to the East Coast yearly and has been to Hawaii, Costa Rica and French Polynesia. That delay bought enough time for two other accusers to step forward with their alleged stories against Kavanaugh. And even though it was widely reported that Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) offered to send staff to her home state of California, she said she was unaware of his offer.

In a sworn affidavit, a longtime ex-boyfriend contradicted a number of the claims that Ford has made. Under penalty of felony, he testified that he witnessed her coach a friend on how to pass a polygraph examination. When asked under oath if she had ever prepared for a polygraph, she replied: “Never.” He also wrote that she never mentioned Kavanaugh or indicated that she was afraid of flying.

In this politically toxic environment, it is important to note that Ford is a registered Democrat. Her attorneys, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, were recommended to her by Feinstein and collectively have donated to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). Katz attended an anti-Trump rally where she said, “We are going to resist. We will not be silenced.” Ford also has hired attorney Michael Bromwich, a former Obama official who now represents fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

When President Trump first announced Kavanaugh as his nominee, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would “oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination with everything I have.” Sadly, over the past couple of weeks, the Democrats have shown how low they will go to keep that promise.   

Lisa Boothe is a senior fellow of Independent Women’s Voice, a conservative policy organization, and a Fox News contributor. She has worked for multiple Republican members of Congress and political campaigns. She previously was a vice president of WPA Research (now WPAIntel), a Republican polling firm. Follow her on Twitter @LisaMarieBoothe.