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The historic confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s United States’ Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, continued on Thursday with the Senate Judicial Committee hearing testimonies from Kavanaugh and Dr Christine Blasey Ford, one of the women – three, at last count – who have come forward with allegations of sexual assault against him.

In her testimony, Ford delivered a highly emotional opening statement in which she described an alleged assault that she said took place when she and Kavanaugh were in high school. “Apart from the assault itself, these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life,” she said with a quaver in her voice. “I have had to relive my trauma in front of the entire world.”

She gave more details about the incident she had previously disclosed to The Washington Post and answered questions from the panel of 11 Republicans – all men – and 10 Democrats. Democratic Party Senator Kamala Harris attempted to put the psychology professor at ease by telling her that she was not on trial and that she would be remembered as a “true profile in courage at this moment in time.” The Republican senators ceded their question time to Rachel Mitchell, an experienced prosecutor of sexual assault cases.

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Kavanaugh denied the allegations during his testimony and said they were part of a smear campaign against his nomination. Following the turbulent hearing, the senate committee is set to vote on the nominee on Friday.