Rachel Mitchell,
the veteran sex crimes prosecutor
who was chosen by the GOP
to question Christine Ford
and Brett Kavanaugh,
sent a memo to Republican senators
calling Ford’s allegations
a “he said, she said” case
that “is even weaker than that.”
In her 5-page memo,
Mitchell wrote that
she was presenting her
“independent assessment”
of the allegations.
She said this was based on
her independent review
of the evidence
and her nearly 25 years
of experience.
She alleged in the document
that “the activities of
Congressional Democrats
and Dr. Ford’s attorneys
likely affected Dr. Ford’s account.”
Mitchell, who worked in the
Maricopa County Attorney’s Office
in Phoenix as the chief of the
Special Victims Division,
which covers sex crimes
and family violence,
said she was not pressured
to write the memorandum
and it did not necessarily reflect
the views of any other senator
or committee member.
“While I am a registered Republican,
I am not a political or partisan person,”
she wrote and added that
"There is no clear standard
of proof for allegations
made during the Senate’s
confirmation process.
But the world in which I work
is the legal world,
not the political world.
Thus, I can only provide
my assessment of
Dr. Ford’s allegations
in that legal context.”
Mitchell wrote that a
“‘he said, she said’ case
is incredibly difficult to prove.
But this case
is even weaker than that.
Dr. Ford identified other witnesses
to the event, and those witnesses
either refuted her allegations
or failed to corroborate them
….I do not think that
a reasonable prosecutor
would bring this case
based on the evidence
before the Committee.
Nor do I believe
that this evidence
is sufficient to satisfy
the preponderance
-of-the-evidence standard.”
Mitchell listed
several reasons
for that conclusion.
Dr. Ford “has not offered
a consistent account of when
the alleged assault happened.”
Under this header,
Mitchell listed
different accounts
she says Ford gave,
ranging from
“mid 1980s” in a text
to the Washington Post
to “early 80s” in a letter
to Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
among other things.
Dr. Ford
“has struggled to identify
Judge Kavanaugh
as the assailant by name.”
According to Rachel Mitchell,
no name was listed
in 2012 and 2013
individual and
marriage therapy notes.
She did note that Ford’s husband
“claims to recall that she identified
Judge Kavanaugh by name in 2012”
and added “in any event,
it took Dr. Ford over thirty years
to name her assailant.
Delayed disclosure of abuse
is common so this is not dispositive.”
“When speaking with her husband,
Dr. Ford changed her description
of the incident to become less specific.”
Mitchell stated that Ford told
The Washington Post that
she told her husband she was
the victim of “physical abuse,”
whereas she has now testified
that she told her husband about
a “sexual assault.”
“Dr. Ford has no memory
of key details of the night in question
– details that could help
corroborate her account.”
Among the lack of details,
Mitchell said that
"she does not remember
who invited her to the party
or how she heard about it.
She does not remember
how she got to the party.”
Mitchell continued:
“She does not remember
in what house
the assault allegedly took place
or where that house was located
with any specificity.
Perhaps most importantly,
she does not remember
how she got from the party
to her house.”
The memo then continued
listing more details.
Mitchell pointed out that Ford
“does, however, remember small,
distinct details from the party
unrelated to the assault.
For example, she testified
that she had exactly one beer
at the party and was taking
no medication at the time
of the alleged assault.”
“Dr. Ford’s Account
of the Alleged Assault
Has Not Been Corroborated by
Anyone She Identified
as Having Attended –
Including Her Lifelong Friend.”
Mitchell wrote that Dr. Ford
has named three people
other than Judge Kavanaugh
who attended the party
– Mark Judge, Patrick PJ Smyth,
and her lifelong friend
Leland Keyser, formerly Ingham.
She said another boy attended
but she couldn’t remember his name,
but Mitchell pointed out that
“no others have come forward.”
“All three named eyewitnesses
have submitted statements
to the Committee
denying any memory
of the party whatsoever,”
Mitchell wrote.
She stated that Keyser
stated through counsel
in her first statement that
“Keyser does not know
Mr. Kavanaugh
and she has no recollection
of ever being at a party or gathering
where he was present
with, or without, Dr. Ford.”
In a later statement,
Keyser’s lawyer said,
“the simple and unchangeable truth
is that she is unable to corroborate
[Dr. Ford’s allegations] because she has
no recollection of the incident in question.”
Ford testified that Leland
did “not follow up with Dr. Ford
after the party
to ask why she had
suddenly disappeared.”
“Dr. Ford has not offered
a consistent account
of the alleged attack.”
Mitchell wrote that Ford
wrote in her letter to
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
that she had heard
Kavanaugh and Mark Judge
talking to other partygoers
downstairs while hiding
in the bathroom
after the alleged assault
but testified that she could not
hear them talking to anyone.
Her “account of who was
at the party has been inconsistent.”
Mitchell said The Washington Post’s
account of Dr. Ford’s therapist notes
say there were four boys in the bedroom
when she was allegedly assaulted.
Ford told The Post
the notes were erroneous
because there were four boys
at the party but only two
in the bedroom.
In her letter to Feinstein,
she said “me and 4 others”
were at the party
but in her testimony
she said there were four boys
in additional to Leland Keyser
and herself.
She listed Smyth as a bystander
in a text to The Post
and to a polygrapher
and then testified it was
inaccurate to call him a bystander.
“She did not list Leland Keyser
even though they are good friends.
Leland Keyser’s presence
should have been more memorable
than PJ Smyth’s,” wrote Mitchell.
“Dr. Ford has struggled to recall
important recent events
relating to her allegations,
and her testimony
regarding recent events
raises further questions
about her memory.”
Mitchell said that Ford
doesn’t remember if she showed
a full or partial set of therapy notes
to the Washington Post.
She doesn’t remember
if she showed the Post
the notes or her summary
of the notes.
Mitchell stated that
Ford refused to provide
her therapy notes
to the Senate Committee.
“Dr. Ford’s explanation
of why she disclosed
her allegations the way she did
raises questions.”
Mitchell says that Ford
wanted to remain confidential
but called a tipline
at the Washington Post.
She testified that she
had a “sense of urgency
to relay the information
to the Senate and the president.”
But she also said
she did not contact the Senate
because she claimed
she “did not know how to do that.”
Mitchell also noted that Ford
“could not remember
if she was being audio
or video-recorded
when she took the polygraph.
She could not remember
whether the polygraph
occurred the same day
as her grandmother’s funeral
or the day after
her grandmother’s funeral.
It would also have been
inappropriate to administer
a polygraph to someone
who was grieving.”
(Ford’s attorneys have said she took and passed a polygraph.)
“Dr. Ford’s description
of the psychological impact
of the event raises questions.”
According to Mitchell,
the date of the hearing was delayed
because the Committee was told
that Ford’s symptoms
prevented her from flying,
but she agreed during testimony
that she flies “fairly frequently.”
She also flew to Washington D.C.
for the hearing.
Mitchell noted that Ford testified
that she was not “clear”
whether investigators
were willing to travel to California
to interview her.
She said she struggled academically
in college, but she didn’t make the claim
about the last two years of high school.
“The activities of Congressional Democrats
and Dr. Ford’s attorneys
likely affected Dr. Ford’s account.”
The above is
a partial summary
of the conclusions
in the memo;
in numerous instances
Mitchell provided
additional examples
to back up her claims.
Full memo here:
http://pdf.iwv.org/09.30.18%20Mitchell%20Memo.pdf
Rachel Mitchell has donated to the campaign of Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s Republican attorney general, according to The Post. The County Attorney’s newsletter also mentions that Mitchell was part of a team that won an award for dealing with a “sex assault backlog.”
