Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz says Senate Republicans picked the wrong person to question Christine Blasey Ford in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday about her sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The Republican majority on the panel has selected Arizona county sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell for the job, but the issue with her, according to Dershowitz, is she likely lacks experience in cross-examination.
“I want to see the greatest engine of truth ever invented used effectively, namely used a cross-examination. And I’m worried that we don’t have the right people. The woman who has been hired to conduct the cross-examination has probably rarely ever cross-examined anybody,” he said on Fox News.
Dershowitz went on to say Mitchell’s decades of experience won’t save her.
“She’s a prosecutor. Prosecutors put on cases and mostly defendants don’t take the stand. So this is a woman with 20 years of experience as a prosecutor but no experience as a defense attorney, so I don’t think she’s the right person to question Dr. Ford,” he said.
Ford alleges Kavanaugh drunkenly forced himself on her at a Maryland high school party in the early 1980s. On Thursday, she will face Mitchell, who will ask questions on behalf of the panel’s 11 Republicans. Kavanaugh, who denies that allegation and the others leveled against him by other women, will appear before the committee afterwards.
