Two survivors of sexual assault who berated Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator after announcing he would vote in favor of Brett Kavanaugh expressed relief that an FBI probe into sex assault allegations against him will take place.
Flake gave Kavanaugh's nomination a major boost from the Judiciary Committee after the holdout Republican senator announced his support Friday morning following a day of harrowing testimony from Christine Blasey Ford who claims he sexually assaulted her.
Maria Gallagher, 23, and Ana Maria Archila had rushed after Flake in a Capitol Hill hallway and blocked the doors to the elevator Flake was in after he announced his decision.
Both woman revealed that they were survivors of sexual abuse, and accused Flake of silencing rape victims by announcing his support for Kavanaugh.
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Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila (pictured) who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake yesterday embrace after it is announced an FBI probe into allegations by Christine Blasey Ford take place
Flake (pictured) was stuck in the elevator for around five minutes after the women blocked the elevator doors and called on him to support victims of sexual abuse
Ana Maria Archila pointed her finger at Flake while she appeared to keep the elevator door from closing.
'On Monday, I stood in front of your office,' Archila, co-executive director of the nonprofit Center for Popular Democracy Action, told Flake.
‘I told the story of my sexual assault. I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford's story that she is telling the truth. What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court.’
The other woman Maria Gallagher shouted, through tears: 'I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me.
'I didn't tell anyone, and you're telling all women that they don't matter, that they should just stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them you are going to ignore them," Gallagher said.
"That's what happened to me, and that's what you are telling all women in America, that they don't matter," she said through tears.
After the heated exchange, Flake announced that he would advance Kavanaugh's nomination but only after after the FBI be allowed to investigate the "credible allegations" against Kavanaugh by Dr Blasey Ford.
Reacting to Flake's volte-face, Gallagher said she felt relieved that their voices had been heard and that an FBI investigation will take place.
She told the Daily Beast: ‘We all ran after him. We held open the elevator and I just started telling him why it was important and what had happened to me and why he should not let Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
‘He wouldn’t meet my eyes, It made me very angry. He kept saying thank you and I’m sorry and wasn’t taking into account what his actions would be doing to millions of people and what this means for everyone.’
Maria Gallagher later tweeted a picture of her and Ana Maria Archila in a congratulatory embrace
Ana Maria Archila (left) revealed she was sexually assaulted as a child by a teenager and Maria Gallagher (right) revealed she was a survivor of sexual abuse
Ana Maria Archila (pictured) being comforted by another protester in a day of high drama
Gallagher claimed she never told anyone about her attack before – not even her own mother who had called her after seeing the clip on TV, according to the news site.
'This won’t be an easy conversation,” she said.
Last night Gallagher responded to Flake’s climbdown in a tweet along with a photo of her and Archina embracing.
‘I feel relieved that @JeffFlake seems to have heard my and @AnaMariaArchil2’s voices in the Senate elevator today,’ Gallagher tweeted along with a photo of her and Archina embracing.
‘We absolutely need an FBI investigation and for him and all Senators to vote NO. #StopKavanaugh.’
Archila is co-executive director of the nonprofit Center for Popular Democracy Action. The group sent a press release following the confrontation confirming it was Archila speaking on camera.
Flake gave Kavanaugh's nomination a major boost from the Judiciary Committee after the holdout Republican senator announced his support Friday morning
Flake (pictured) later announced he would only support Kavanaugh's nomination if the FBI were allowed to investigate the allegations made against him by Christine Blasey Ford
Archila told the Associated Press she was sexually assaulted when she was 5 years old by a teenager when she and her family lived in Colombia. She said she didn't tell anyone before this week.
'I had planned to just talk to him nicely, but once when I saw that he was voting for Kavanaugh my niceties went out the window,' she said.
'What are you doing to our country? You are sending the wrong message you're saying that all of us who put our pain to the world to confront don't matter'.
After hearing about Flake's request, she said the sequence of events suggested their conversation helped move him.
‘What it tells me is that telling our stories and showing up can actually change their minds,' she said.
Before the exchange, Flake was returning to the committee room where he and 20 colleagues had heard hours of testimony Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor who told them Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her decades ago.
Female members of congress (pictured) link arms as they try to enter the Senate hearing on Brett Kavanaugh
Members of the Handmaid's Resistance (pictured) join another protester outside Senator Jeff Flake's office as they protest against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh in Pheonix
Kavanaugh strongly denied the allegation.
Flake had lobbied Republican leaders to give Ford the chance to speak. He was viewed as a possible 'no' vote on the panel and in the closely-divided Senate - until his morning announcement Friday.
That made the two women staking out his office angry and they confronted him when he tried to leave for Friday's hearing.
The fiery and emotional exchange was caught by TV cameras in what has become the most memorable moment in a day of high drama in the ongoing controversy.
Flake was later asked whether the elevator confrontation had swayed him.
'I can say this whole process has affected all of us,' he said. 'I can't pinpoint anything to say this is what caused me to come today to say let's postpone'.
He said it was 'remarkable' the number of people who saw Ford and
were emboldened to come out and say what had happened to them.
'I've heard from close friends and I had no idea. That's important'.
President Donald Trump later agreed to order the FBI to open a supplemental background investigation into Kavanaugh that would be completed in a week.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/29/two-sexual-assault-survivors-who-confronted-sen-jeff-flake-express-relief-at-fbi-probe/
Main photo article Two survivors of sexual assault who berated Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator after announcing he would vote in favor of Brett Kavanaugh expressed relief that an FBI probe into sex assault allegations against him will take place.
Flake gave Kavanaugh’s nomination a major boost from the ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/29/02/4624374-6220811-image-a-34_1538183167575.jpg
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