Six weeks after making sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford has had to move her family four times because of death threats and hasn’t been able to return to work, new reports say.
“Justice Kavanaugh ascended to the Supreme Court, but the threats to Dr. Ford continue,” Ford’s lawyers told NPR yesterday.
Last month, Ford said that she had moved four times and had to pay for a private security detail.
Although Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed on Oct. 7 and started work at the Supreme Court the next day, Ford hasn’t been able to return to her job as a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in Northern California. Representatives for the school haven’t responded to media outlets’ questions about whether there is a timeline for Ford to return.
Before deciding to go public with her testimony, Ford said she asked herself, “Why suffer through the annihilation if it’s not going to matter?”
Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers in the early ’80s. On Sept. 27, Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee about the threats she had received since her story came to light. “My family and I have been the target of constant harassment and death threats,” she said. “People have posted my personal information on the Internet. This has resulted in additional emails, calls, and threats. My family and I were forced to move out of our home. My family and I have been living in various secure locales, with guards.”
According to Ford’s lawyers, those threats have continued.
Two GoFundMe accounts were set up to cover Ford’s private security costs and have raised more than $800,000. One of them was set up by Georgetown law professor Heidi Feldman. “My understanding from GoFundMe is that [she] has access to the money my campaign raised (I do not know if she has withdrawn it),” said Feldman in an email to NPR. “I have no information about whether or how she has used or plans to use it.” Ford’s lawyers have said she will donate unused funds to organizations that benefit trauma survivors.
One thing Ford won’t be doing, her lawyers say, is seeking ways to profit from her story. “Dr. Ford’s current focus is solely on recovering from the experience and returning to her job responsibilities — not on writing a book,” they told NPR.
