her story. Don McGahn told them to leave—“Everyone!” he shouted. Even Ashley got up to leave the room, but she was told she could say.
Kavanaugh and McGahn had strategized using sports analogies throughout the process. They shared a love of the 2004 film Miracle, which is about the U.S. hockey team’s improbable victory over the Soviet team in the 1980 Olympics. Kavanaugh was fond of quoting the line shouted by an exhausted team captain, “I play for the United States of America!” McGahn, wanting to reset the table after Ford’s testimony, thought of another scene from the movie. The U.S. coach comes into the locker room after the first period of a game against Sweden. His team is losing and dejected. The coach accuses an injured player of being a quitter, mocks a teammate who comes to his defense, and flips over a table to get everyone fired up. On his way out the door, he says under his breath to the assistant coach, “That’ll get ’em goin’.”11 McGahn had watched Ford’s testimony. He knew people believed her, but he knew Kavanaugh had it in him to fight for his honor.
They had practiced for a moment like this. Over the previous week, in sessions with just Kavanaugh and a few others, they had tried to prepare the nominee for what he would face. The Gorsuch confirmation process had taught the White House that they could not fully script interactions with senators. Federal judges know what they’re doing and should be allowed to trust their instincts. Kavanaugh, a respected judge with a sterling reputation, was seeing his character and life’s work demolished. People were already saying he should not return to the court of appeals, let alone take a seat on the Supreme Court. He was being turned into a pariah. It was time for his own “miracle on ice.” He was down, he was injured, and he had to win.
Kavanaugh entered the hearing room and sat down. He wore a dark suit and a blue tie. His brow was furrowed as he adjusted his microphone and papers. Ashley sat behind him next to her friend, Laura Kaplan.
He began by noting that he had denied the allegations against him “immediately, categorically, and unequivocally.”12 He quoted from the witness statements saying that they had no recollection of anything like the episode Ford had described. He reminded the committee he’d asked for an immediate hearing to clear his name, demanding a hearing the next day. Their ten-day delay had allowed his family and his name to be “totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations.”
Kavanaugh said he had welcomed an investigation into the charges and had cooperated fully, knowing that any investigation would clear him. He reminded the committee of the myriad witnesses who all testified to his character.
“This confirmation process has become a national disgrace,” he said. “The Constitution gives the Senate an important role in the confirmation process, but you have replaced ‘advice and consent’ with ‘search and destroy.’ ” He reminded the senators that the moment his nomination was announced, left-wing activists had launched a frenzied search to “come up with something, anything,” to block his confirmation. He threw statements of Democratic senators back at them, reminding everyone that the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had said he would oppose him with everything he had. He reminded the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee that one of them—it was Senator Booker—had publicly referred to him as evil. “Evil. Think about that word. It’s said that those who supported me were, quote, complicit in evil,” he continued, driving his point home. He rehearsed a few more of the reckless and extreme statements by Democratic senators and political leaders.
“I understand the passions of the moment,” he said, but he reminded them that people took their words seriously, issuing vile threats against his wife and friends. “You sowed the wind. For decades to come, I fear the whole country will reap the whirlwind.”
The behavior of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee was an “embarrassment” when it was still at the level of a “good old-fashioned attempt at Borking.” But when it began to look like he would be confirmed, “a new tactic was needed.” He noted that a Democratic member and her staff had kept Ford’s allegation a secret for weeks, waiting to unveil it when it was needed and making it public against Ford’s wishes.
There followed a “long series of false, last-minute smears” designed, he said, to drive him off the stage: