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Watch Christine Blasey Ford's powerful testimony on her alleged assault by Brett Kavanaugh

"These last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life."

Christine Blasey Ford, wearing a solid navy suit for her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, described in a shaky, thin voice how Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had allegedly pinned her to a bed and ran his hands over her body at a small gathering of teens at a Maryland home in 1982, when she was only 15 years old. He grinded himself into her, she said, and appeared to be having a good time. He allegedly covered her mouth when she tried to scream, and she said, "I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me." Ford, 51, sat quietly before the panel of mostly male senators as Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, gave their opening remarks. Then she began to softly cry after she described how she was “terrified” to be there.

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She launched into her allegations against Kavanaugh, who could be confirmed to the Supreme Court in a matter of days. She described how her life has been “picked apart by people on television, on Twitter.” “I don’t remember as much as I would like to,” Ford said. “But the details about that night that bring me here today are the ones I will never forget.” It’s been less than two weeks since Ford, a California-based research psychologist, stepped into the political spotlight and publicly accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a small, booze-laden gathering in the summer of 1982, when they were both teenagers.

She alleged he pinned her to a bed in a suburban, Maryland home as his longtime friend Mark Judge watched. Kavanaugh then allegedly groped her over her clothing and tried to undress her; he muffled her screams when she protested, Ford said. She’s also said she feared for her life in that moment.

Here's her full prepared comments:

Cover: Christine Blasey Ford arrives to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)