Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of groping her without her consent in the 1980s, is married, and she is the mother of two children, both boys.
Dr. Ford was scheduled to testify publicly about the allegations on September 27, 2018 before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Judge Kavanaugh has adamantly denied the claims, and three people Ford alleged were also at the party that night have said they have no recollection of it.
However, Russell Ford, the husband of Christine Blasey Ford, has submitted an affidavit for the hearing that says his wife confided in him about the alleged assault well before Kavanaugh was ever nominated to a position on the U.S. Supreme Court (Ford has also presented the affidavits of three friends who say the same).
Here’s what you need to know about Ford’s husband and kids:
Russell Ford Says His Wife Told Him About the Alleged Attack Years Ago
Christine Ford alleged to the Post that Brett Kavanaugh, while he was in high school, “pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.”
Russ Ford told the Washington Post that he believes the allegation is relevant to Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court even though it dates back 36 years. “I think you look to judges to be the arbiters of right and wrong,” Russell Ford said to The Post. “If they don’t have a moral code of their own to determine right from wrong, then that’s a problem. So I think it’s relevant. Supreme Court nominees should be held to a higher standard.”
Russell Ford has submitted an affidavit in advance of the hearing to back up his wife. It says, “The first time I learned that Christine had any experience with sexual assault was around the time we got married, although she did not provide any details.”
He said that “Christine shared the details of the sexual assault during a couple’s therapy session in 2012. She said that in high school she had been trapped in a room and physically restrained by one boy who was molesting her while another boy watched. She said she was eventually able to escape before she was raped but that the experience was very traumatic because she felt like she had no control and was physically dominated.”
Ford’s affidavit further contends, “I remember her saying that the attacker’s name was Brett Kavanaugh, that he was a successful lawyer who had grown up in Christine’s home town, and that he was well-known in the Washington D.C. community.”
Ford stated that in the years following the therapy sessions he and his wife “spoke a number of times about how the assault affected her.”
He said that Christine Ford mentioned Kavanaugh “was the person who sexually assaulted her” when President Donlad Trump was in the process of selecting his first nominee for the Supreme Court, a nomination that went to Judge Neil Gorsuch. “I remember Christine saying she was afraid the President might nominate Mr. Kavanaugh,” Russell Ford said.
He said the conversations began again when Anthony Kennedy retired and Kavanaugh emerged on Trump’s short list.
“Christine was very conflicted about whether she should speak publicly about what Mr. Kavanaugh had done to her, as she knew it would be emotionally trying for her to relive this traumatic experience in her life and hard on our family to deal with the inevitable public reacton. However, in the end she believed her civic duty required her to speak out,” Russell Ford’s affidavit rads.
He concluded by saying that his wife was a “truthful person of great integrity” and lauded her. “I am proud of her for her bravery and courage,” he wrote.
Russell, Christine Ford & Their Two Children Enjoy Surfing
Russell Ford and Christine Blasey Ford have two teenage sons together, according to the San Jose Mercury News, which reports that the family members are all avid surfers. A friend described the couple as “modest,” and said they eat organic food and “drive hybrids that they plug into a charging station in their driveway.”
According to The New York Times, the family lives in Palo Alto, and Ford has “volunteered for her sons’ schools and junior lifeguard training” and restored the family’s “midcentury modern home.” The family sometimes attends local sporting events.
Ford’s lawyers have revealed that the Fords have had to leave their family home for security reasons after getting threats (Kavanaugh’s family also has been threatened.)
Russell Ford’s LinkedIn page hasn’t been updated since 2016. However, at that time, it described a lengthy and accomplished career in medical research. The most recent entry says that, from 2004 to 2006, Russ Ford worked for a company called Zosano Pharma. He gave his title as “Sr Director, System Design and Development.”
Ford described his duties as: “Individual contributor and manager of engineering group responsible for all mechanical product design and development activities including technical scale-up for components and applicator device; i.e. non-drug, non-excipient product design – dynamic mechanical applicator, microneedle array, adhesive patch, and packaging. Budgeting for functional group and for individual projects. Presenter and interface for device design during 6+ technical audits by prospective pharma business partners. Attendee at FDA EOP2 meeting.”
Before that, he worked as director of Advanced Engineering for Abbott Medical Optics in Milpitas, California, a position he held from 2011 to 2014. “Division of Abbott Laboratories, #1 in laser vision correction products, #2 in cataract products – surgical equipment and implants (IOL’s). Milpitas is portion of R&D and MFG site for all surgical capital equipment – phaco-emulsification and LASiK (aberrometers for diagnostic, femto-second lasers for flap cut, and excimer laser for shaping the cornea),” he wrote in part with the entry.
Ford has also held similar positions at Boston Scientific and, as noted in his wedding announcement, at Cygnus, where he describes himself as the “developer of first FDA-approved non-invasive continuous glucose monitor for people with Diabetes.”
Russell Ford first met Christine Blasey through a dating website; their first date was dinner and the second, surfing, according to The Washington Post.
Russ Ford earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, according to his LinkedIn page. He also received his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford and graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in mechanical engineering as well.
Online records say the couple sold a home in 2004 together for more than $800,000.
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