Christine Blasey Ford, a professor from California, came forward earlier this week to publicly accuse Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her at a party more than 30 years ago, when the two were in high school.

"Sexual assault is severely under-reported because of the stigma and harassment that so often follows after survivors speak out", said US Representative Katherine Clark, a Melrose Democrat and former prosecutor, in a statement.

The Democrats, all of whom served as prosecutors or state attorneys general, noted that President George H.W. Bush asked the FBI to investigate after law professor Anita Hill raised allegations of sexual harassment against Judge Clarence Thomas in 1991.

But wait. If Mark Judge's letter to the Judiciary Committee is sufficient to make its Republican members accept the contents of the letter at face value, why don't they do the same for the letter Dr Ford sent to ranking Committee member Diane Feinstein?

Clark's words were echoed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a fellow Democrat whose name is frequently floated as a possible presidential candidate in 2020. Ford wrote that Kavanaugh pushed her into a bedroom along with another male companion. "There's reasons why most laws and most crimes have statutes of limitation". They put her in this position at the eleventh hour.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, said at the event: "Someone who is lying does not ask the FBI to investigate their claims".

Despite the furor over Kavanaugh's nomination, McConnell boasted confidence, telling the audience: "Keep the faith". Ford was 15 at the time. 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", McConnell said.

Trump also made clear his opinion on Ford's claims Friday, tweeting, "if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities". "I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!" he wrote. "He did it again when the accuser came forward against Kavanaugh. It really undermines all of our efforts trying to support survivors".

"We just have to be so much better than we've been in the past in recognizing what's appropriate and what's not, in terms of the process", Flake said Wednesday in the Costa report. "I did not do this back in high school or at any time". The president has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women - all liars, he has said. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the accusations.

The discussion revived the possibility that the panel would hold an electrifying campaign-season hearing at which both Ford and President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee could give their versions of what did or didn't happen at a party in the 1980s. Ford has said Judge witnessed the alleged assault. "Shame is at the core of the intense emotional wounding [of] women when they are sexually violated".

The Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Judge Kavanaugh had originally been scheduled for Thursday. Others have argued, however, why would she seek an Federal Bureau of Investigation probe if she is lying. "NOW support her right to justice from a legal system that has failed for too many, for too long".

He added: "I can only say this, he is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine that anything happened". CNN said the lawyers told the committee staff that she wanted to be questioned by senators.

Bozell, who describes herself as an independent, said she found the timing of the allegations suspicious and believed Kavanaugh was an "upstanding man" who was being "smeared" and that his family was being torn apart.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who represents sexual assault victims, also said survivors often feel trapped.

"Someone who is lying does not ask the FBI to investigate their claims", she said.