< figure data-uri=slate.com/_components/image/instances/cjmky7xbq001n1ekz7is4lf10@published data-editable=imageInfo > Christine Blasey Ford confers with her attorney Michael Bromwich while testifying prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday in Washington.
During Thursday’s hearing, Rachel Mitchell, the Arizona district attorney employed by the committee, pressed Ford on the nature of her legal representation, potentially in an effort to represent her as being directed by more powerful Democrats looking out for the interest of the celebration. As Ford tried to address the key points of Mitchell’s concerns, one of her legal representatives leapt in. “Both of her counsel are doing this pro bono,” Michael Bromwich told the committee. “We are not being paid. We have no expectation of being paid.”
What Bromwich did not discuss was that he not only was not being spent for his time representing Ford– he likewise left his task at a Washington law company where he served as senior counsel.
According to Bloomberg, Bromwich, 64, resigned from Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP, as a few of the partners at the company had objected to his decision to represent Ford. Bromwich, a Harvard Law graduate and former federal prosecutor, was understood before this hearing for assisting the examination of the Iran-Contra affair and, more recently, for representing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired in March by Jeff Sessions two days before his scheduled retirement and for whom Bromwich helped crowdfund legal fees. According to Bloomberg, President Obama picked Bromwich to reform the offshore drilling guidelines after the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010.
Bromwich joined Ford’s legal group late. The lawyer sitting to her right at the hearing, Debra Katz, is known for her work representing sexual harassment and abuse victims.
Ford’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee ended Thursday afternoon after Ford sustained more than four hours of questioning about her accusation of being sexually attacked by Brett Kavanaugh in the 1980s and the subsequent trauma. During the hearing, Democrats grumbled about Mark Judge’s absence in the hearing, highlighted that the hearing should be viewed as a job application rather than a trial, and applauded Ford’s bravery. Mitchell pushed Ford for information connected to Ford’s fear of flying, the logistics surrounding the celebration, her contacts with the press, and who paid for the polygraph test.
Ford, for her part, tried to clarify her account and correct any small errors she might have made in any previous statements. She likewise emphasized that she had actually stepped forward in an effort to be handy and at a time before Kavanaugh’s election, when Trump could have picked from other conservative judges.
Source
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/christine-blasey-ford-lawyer-michael-bromwich.html