In her must-read recap of how alleged sexual assaults are prosecuted, The Post's Deanna Paul quotes a former district attorney saying she doesn't like calling these cases "he said, she saids."
"I stand to believe there's no such thing as a 'he-said-she-said' case," Linda Fairstein said. "As a prosecutor, it's your job to break down every minute of the encounter so that details on one side pushes the facts over the edge."
This is an important point — and it's also key to our evolving understanding of Christine Blasey Ford's accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
While critics of the accusation have dismissed it as "hearsay" or a "he said, she said," and argue that we have two competing accounts that simply can't be reconciled, that's increasingly not the case.
Both Ford and Kavanaugh, in fact, have provided statements that could be seen as corroborating evidence or require corroboration, were this to be handled in a legal setting. It's not going to court, of course, but the "hearsay" argument invokes a legal principle, and so it's fair to point out that it's not totally accurate.
Republicans including President Donald Trump have cast doubt upon Ford's accusation by pointing out that it only came to light mere days before Kavanaugh was set to be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee — and after his confirmation hearings had already been concluded. This is probably the biggest argument against the legitimacy of the accusation.
But Ford has also documented an apparent session in which she told her therapist about the episode six years ago, and she reached out to The Washington Post before Kavanaugh was Trump's nominee (but while he was on the shortlist).
As Georgetown University law professor David Super notes, federal law explicitly says these previous statements are not regarded as hearsay when they are used "to rebut an express or implied charge that the declarant recently fabricated it or acted from a recent improper influence or motive in so testifying."
That's exactly what Republicans are implying — often gently and without expressly calling Ford a liar.
"Calling it 'he said, she said' implies that both accounts are uncorroborated," Super said. "But these prior consistent statements are corroboration. And with so many complaining about the lateness of the charges, they are at least implying recent fabrication. That makes her prior consistent statements not hearsay. Even a court would consider them."
Ford's prior statements, though, only go so far in bolstering her claim. The therapist's notes describe four boys being in the room in which the episode happened, rather than the two she now says were there. Ford blames the therapist for not accurately recording what she said, but just as the previous statements could be used to bolster her claim, this could be used to argue that she changed her story.
Also pushing this into the realm of actual evidence is Kavanaugh's latest defense: That he wasn't even at the party in question. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, said Monday that Kavanaugh told him that directly.
Leigh Ann Caldwell tweeted "NEWS: @OrrinHatch just spoke to Kavanaugh and Kavaaugh denies being at the party in question per a Hatch aide.
"Hatch told me kavanaugh is 'honest' and 'straightforward' and said after talkng to Kavanaugh the woman might be 'mixed up"'
Assuming Hatch is accurately relaying the claim, that would seem to be a pretty defiant response from Kavanaugh. It removes the possibility that this was some kind of misunderstanding or that he was too intoxicated and doesn't remember the episode. It forecloses anything amounting to the episode from actually having occurred.
But it also means there is another claim that could be corroborated or disproven. Other people at the party could testify that he was or wasn’t present. There could be evidence introduced to support or dispute Kavanaugh’s claim, and his credibility could be adjusted accordingly — just as Ford’s old actions could be used as corroborating evidence to bolster her claims.
To make such an assertion, you have to think Kavanaugh is pretty certain there will never be any evidence produced to place him at the party in question. If there were, it would be damning. But unless there is evidence to support his assertion, it is just a claim.
None of this makes the case clear-cut, and we may never get definitive answers as to whether Kavanaugh was actually at the party or whether Ford's allegation is true. What's more, Ford's past statements about the alleged episode aren't proof of wrongdoing.
But to dismiss this all as a “he said, she said,” also misses the point. The moment Ford provided her account publicly and Republicans began questioning it, we moved past that phase.
Aaron Blake is senior political reporter, writing for The Fix. A Minnesota native, he has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Hill newspaper.
