On Tuesday, allegations began circulating over social media that Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school, was once photographed at a protest, holding an anti-Trump sign that read “Not My President.”
The rumors originated on the /pol/ section of 4chan, accompanied by an image of a woman who was said to be Ford, holding a sign of that description.
Is the allegation true?
According to Snopes, nope.
The fact-checking site located the image on several stock-photography sites. It was taken on Nov. 12, 2016, by photographer Christopher Penle at a protest in New York City. The picture didn’t start circulating with Ford’s name attached to it until she made accusations against Kavanaugh last week.
Snopes noted that when compared to a recent photo of Ford, the woman at the protest doesn’t really resemble her. “It appears that those who were attempting to smear Ford as some sort of unreliable partisan were simply searching for images of any woman at a Trump protest who bore a passing resemblance to Kavanaugh’s accuser,” the site says.
Not helping 4chan’s case: Other photos of blonde women at other protests, which look nothing like each other, are circulating with claims that they’re Ford.
Ford originally wanted to remain anonymous but revealed her identity in the Washington Post late last week, before she was unmasked by reporters. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. This week, it was reported that the professor at Palo Alto University had gone into hiding with her children after receiving death threats.
Ford and her attorneys are negotiating with the Senate Judiciary Committee about testifying before the committee next week. An email her lawyers sent to the committee said Ford “would be prepared to testify next week” if the senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”
Republicans on the committee had set a deadline of 10am Friday for Ford to commit to testifying at a hearing on Monday. Ford’s lawyers say that “is not possible and the Committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.”
