Republicans hire Arizona prosecutor to question Kavanaugh and Ford

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 26 September 2018

Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona prosecutor and registered Republican, will question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford on Thursday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) confirmed Tuesday night.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers. All 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are men, and they've decided to bring a woman in to ask Ford and Kavanaugh questions while they are under oath during Thursday's hearing.

The Washington Post was the first to report that Mitchell was the leading candidate. Mitchell is a 26-year veteran of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in Phoenix, and is the sex crimes bureau chief.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.