Chris Wallace: Ford’s testimony is ‘a disaster for the Republicans’

Fox News host Chris Wallace said Thursday that the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were in high school, is a “disaster for the Republicans.”

“This was extremely emotional, extremely raw, and extremely credible,” Wallace said during an appearance on Fox News during a brief Senate Judiciary Committee recess.

“Nobody could listen to her deliver those words and talk about the assault and the impact it had had on her life and not have your heart go out to her,” the “Fox News Sunday” host continued. “She obviously was traumatized by an event.” 

“This is a disaster for the Republicans,” Wallace added.

On Fox News, Bret Baier says hearing from Blasey Ford “is a totally different thing” than reading her allegations.

Chris Wallace: “This was extremely emotional, extremely raw, and extremely credible… This is a disaster for the Republicans.” pic.twitter.com/aSbznSJdHC

— David Mack (@davidmackau) September 27, 2018

Just before Wallace’s remarks, Ford described in gripping detail how she was sexually assaulted at a party when she was 15 years old, she claims by Kavanaugh, President Trump’s pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. 

{mosads}Ford, who struggled to retain her composure, told the Senate Judiciary panel that she thought Kavanaugh might accidentally kill her when he allegedly put his hand over her mouth at the time and pinned her down to a bed while groping her at a Maryland home in the 1980s.

“After that May 2012 therapy session, I did my best to suppress memories of the assault because recounting the details caused me to relive the experience, and caused panic attacks and anxiety,” Ford said during her opening statement.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano said on the same panel with Wallace that Ford came across as an “exceptionally credible” witness.

And on MSNBC, anchor Nicolle Wallace — who worked as communications director in the George W. Bush administration and served on the 2008 presidential campaign of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — called Ford’s testimony a “worst case scenario” for Kavanaugh and his defenders

“The worst-case scenario for his nomination was for Dr. Ford to do what she just did: to take the stand, to be traumatized, to be credible, and to be — she was more than sympathetic,” Wallace said during the break in testimony. “She was an unwilling and unenthusiastic witness to the character of Brett Kavanaugh.”

Wallace noted that Ford’s performance, coupled with Kavanaugh’s recent interview on Fox News, could sink his nomination in the eyes of President Trump.

“To say that everything that could have gone wrong for Brett Kavanaugh has, is an understatement,” Wallace said.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations brought against him by Ford, in addition to two other allegations of sexual misconduct that have surfaced against him.

— Brett Samuels contributed.