A former schoolmate of Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assaulting her more than three decades ago, wrote a Facebook post saying that she remembers hearing about the alleged assault. "This incident did happen," she wrote, noting she does not have first-hand knowledge.
"Christine Blasey Ford was a year or so behind me, I remember her," Cristina Miranda King, who works as a performing arts curator in Mexico City, said on Facebook, in a post that has since been deleted. "This incident did happen. Many of us heard about it in school and Christine's recollection should be more than enough for us to truly, deeply know that the accusation is true."
King says she also knew Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, the other person implicated in Ford's accusation, and goes on to describe a culture of out-of-control drinking among the elite high-schoolers in the Washington area. While Judge has said he has no recollection of the alleged assault, he has written two memoirs, which describe his heavy drinking at the time. In one of the memoirs, "Wasted," Judge names a "Bart O'Kavanaugh," a character who drunkenly passes out and vomits in his car.
Kavanaugh denies the sexual assault allegation, and both he and Ford, who is now a psychology professor in California, have been invited to testify about the alleged sexual assault claim on Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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While King's post — in which she said that people at her high school were aware of the incident and openly talked about it — is significant, it is unclear how it could addressed on Monday. Republicans have sought to limit testimony to Kavanaugh and Ford, excluding outside facts and witnesses that could support or oppose her accusation.
Ford has requested that the FBI investigate the allegation before she testifies, and it's a request that Democrats agree with. But according to NBC News, "the bureau cannot do so unless the White House asks it to," since Ford has not presented an allegation that constitutes a federal crime, "the bureau's role would be to examine the matter as part of its background check into the fitness and character of a Supreme Court nominee."
People on social media took screenshots of King's Facebook post before it was deleted, and King said she took it down "because it served its purpose" and she is now dealing with a barrage of interview requests and is still processing how she wants to move forward. "Was not ready for that, not sure I am interested in pursuing," she added in reply to one user on Twitter. "Thanks for reading."
Later on in a separate tweet, King wrote: "To all media, I will not be doing anymore interviews. No more circus. To clarify my post: I do not have first hand knowledge of the incident that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford mentions, and I stand by my support for Christine. That's it. I don't have more to say on the subject."
King was among nearly 600 alumnae from Holton-Arms, the girls private school in Bethesda, Maryland that Ford attended, who signed an open letter in support of her. "Dr. Blasey Ford’s experience is all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton," the letter reads. "Many of us are survivors ourselves."
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