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Ford has said that Mark Judge and Patrick J. Smyth were at the party, along with another boy whose name she could not recall and her female friend Leland Ingham Keyser. Kavanaugh’s July 1 calendar entry said Judge and Smyth were there. Ford has said the boys were drinking beer. And the calendar refers to “skis,” which was Kavanaugh’s shorthand for “brewskis” — beer.

That was enough of a match for some Democrats. On Friday morning, after Thursday’s testimony, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse produced an enlarged poster of the calendar entry and laid out the Democratic theory.

“Dr. Ford said that Kavanaugh and Judge and PJ and at least one other boy were all at a house,” Whitehouse said. “Well, we know Brett Kavanaugh was there because it’s his schedule. And here’s Judge, and here’s PJ. Here are all those three named boys and others at a house together just as she says.”

“She said Kavanaugh and Judge were drunk and that she had a beer,” Whitehouse added. “They were drinking, just as she said.”

Even the discrepancies between Ford’s story and the calendar entry weren’t a problem, Whitehouse argued. “Now, I will concede that the two girls aren’t mentioned,” he said. “But spot me this: If you had just sexually assaulted one of the two girls, would you add the girls’ names to your calendar? I doubt it.”

“This may, may be powerful corroborating evidence that the assault happened, that it happened that day, and that it happened at that place,” Whitehouse concluded, adding, “but with no FBI investigation we can’t tell.”

Now, of course, there will be an FBI investigation. But it might raise questions about Sen. Whitehouse’s scenario.

Most notably, if the July 1 party were the event at which Ford claims she was assaulted, what about Timmy, Tom, Bernie, and Squi? They are, respectively, Kavanaugh high school friends Tim Gaudette, Tom Kane, Bernie McCarthy, and Chris Garrett. What might they know about what took place?

If the July 1 party were the event in question, the presence of Garrett would be especially noteworthy. In her testimony, Ford said she was going out with Garrett at that time in the summer of 1982. Today, she remembers him well. When Kavanaugh supporter Ed Whalen came up with a theory of mistaken identity, suggesting without evidence that Garrett, and not Kavanaugh, attacked Ford, Ford quickly said that there was no way she would mistake the two, and that she knew without doubt that Kavanaugh, not Garrett, was her attacker.

But if Garrett, who Ford has clear memories of, had been at the party, he would obviously be a witness in the matter, and someone the FBI would want to interview. His presence would also raise the question of why Ford has never mentioned him. She remembers a party from 36 years ago, remembers five people who were there, and doesn’t remember that the person she was closest to at the time was also there?

That’s not to mention the other people in the July 1, 1982 calendar entry who don’t fit Ford’s description of the party.

Rachel Mitchell, the prosecutor Republicans hired to question Ford, asked Ford about Garrett. Ford was willing to talk, but she refused even to say Garrett’s name.

“You mentioned that there was a classmate who was really sort of the connection between you and Brett Kavanaugh,” Mitchell said to Ford. “Who was this person?”

“I think that that case with Mr. Whelan, who was looking at my LinkedIn page and then trying to blame the person, I just don’t feel like it’s right for us to be talking about that,” Ford responded.

“I’m not trying to blame anybody,” Mitchell said. “I just want to know who the common friend that you and — ”

“The person that Mr. Whelan was trying to say looked like Mr. Kavanaugh,” Ford answered.

“OK. How long did you know this person?”

“Maybe for a couple of months we socialized,” Ford said, “but he also was a member of the same country club and I know his younger brother as well.”

“OK. So a couple of months before this took place?”

“Yes.”

“OK. How would you characterize your relationship with him, both before and after this took place, this person?”

“He was somebody that, we use the phrase, I went out with — I wouldn’t say date — I went out with for a few months,” Ford explained. “That was how we termed it at the time. And after that we were distant friends and ran into each other periodically at Columbia Country Club, but I didn’t see him often.”

“OK.”

“But I saw his brother and him several times.”

“Was this person the only common link between you and Judge Kavanaugh?” Mitchell asked.

“He’s the only one that I would be able to name right now — that I would like to not name, but you know who I mean.”

If the July 1 gathering is the event in Ford’s claim, then Garrett’s account would be critical, especially since others Ford said were at the party — Judge, Smyth, and Keyser — have said they have no memories to support Ford’s account.

In his testimony, Kavanaugh confirmed the identities of those named in the calendar entry. He also said it was his practice to note social events.

“Did you in your calendar routinely document social gatherings like house parties or gatherings of friends in your calendar?” asked Mitchell.

“Yes,” said Kavanaugh. “It certainly appears that way, that’s what I was doing in the summer of 1982. And you can see that reflected on several of the entries.”

“If a gathering like Dr. Ford has described had occurred, would you have documented that?”

“Yes,” Kavanaugh answered, “because I documented everything of those kinds of events, even small get-togethers.”

Now, Democrats are focusing on the July 1 event. Republicans tried to knock the speculation down. “That’s the wrong gathering,” Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said, noting that the calendar lists more people at the event that Ford remembered.

Others point out that Gaudette’s house was ten miles away from Columbia Country Club. In the September 16 Washington Post article that revealed Ford’s identity, the paper reported that, “Ford said she remembers that [the party] was in Montgomery County, not far from the country club.” In her testimony, Ford said the party was “at a house in the Bethesda area.” (The Washington Post reported Saturday morning that the Gaudette home was in Rockville, Maryland, “less than 11 miles from Columbia Country Club.”)

By pointing to the July 1 gathering, Democrats have given new focus to the Kavanaugh controversy — and new focus to the question of whether Ford’s story, 36 years old and with no contemporaneous corroborating evidence, is accurate. Democrats think they’ve found something. They have demanded an FBI investigation, to which Republicans and President Trump have finally agreed. And that will be an important test of Ford’s memory.