Arrests Continue As Protesters Swarm Capitol Hill Ahead of Kavanaugh Vote

One by one, police officers led dozens of protesters down the east steps of the Capitol, where hundreds had gathered to express outrage over the pending Senate vote that is expected to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

The crowd cheered and applauded as dozens of women and men were led off the Capitol steps Saturday in plastic handcuffs and then lined up to be booked. They join 101 people who were arrested on Friday for what the Capitol Police described as “unlawful demonstration activities.”

The rage over Kavanaugh’s looming nomination is palpable. President Donald Trump, who mocked Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford at a rally earlier this week, took to Twitter again to falsely accuse the protesters of being paid. He made the same claim on Friday, saying they had been paid by George Soros.

On Saturday, Trump claimed “Women for Kavanaugh” were “gathering all over Capitol Hill…”

While some women had gathered to support the Kavanaugh nomination, videos and photos of the protests told a different story. “I just feel so impotent and outraged,” Yale Law grad Amanda Wise told The Hill. “November is coming,” chanted others, after breaching a police barrier to gain access to the Capitol steps.

Women also continued sharing their own harrowing stories about being victims of sexual assault.

In a statement on Saturday, Kavanaugh’s second accuser, Debbie Ramirez, said the senators supporting her alleged attacker have made her feel like she’s “right back at Yale,” where Kavanaugh allegedly exposed himself to her during a dorm party when the two were classmates.

“Thirty-five years ago, the other students in the room chose to laugh and look the other way as sexual violence was perpetrated on me by Brett Kavanaugh. As I watch many of the Senators speak and vote on the floor of the Senate I feel like I’m right back at Yale where half the room is laughing and looking the other way. Only this time, instead of drunk college kids, it is US Senators who are deliberately ignoring his behavior,” Ramirez said. “This is how victims are isolated and silenced.”

She added that witnesses could corroborate her allegations, but the FBI never interviewed them.