--- title: Orrin Hatch: Christine Blasey Ford Is "Attractive" Witness description: Sen. Orrin Hatch referred to Christine Blasey Ford as an "attractive" witness during her testimony on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. canonical: https://time.com/5408721/christine-blasey-ford-orrin-hatch-attractive-witness/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-27T17:48:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:34:14.387Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sen. Orrin Hatch Calls Christine Blasey Ford an "Attractive" Witness og:description: "In other words, she's pleasing" og:url: https://time.com/5408721/christine-blasey-ford-orrin-hatch-attractive-witness/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33c238e86e7fd715/69893b3f0a4a2219949d3cf9/christine-blasey-ford-opening-statements-kavanaugh-hearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: christine-blasey-ford-kavanaugh-hearing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sen. Orrin Hatch Calls Christine Blasey Ford an "Attractive" Witness twitter:description: "In other words, she's pleasing" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33c238e86e7fd715/69893b3f0a4a2219949d3cf9/christine-blasey-ford-opening-statements-kavanaugh-hearing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sen. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 27, 2018 5:48 PM UTC  Dr. Christine Blasey Ford arrives before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Sept. 27, 2018. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford arrives before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Sept. 27, 2018. MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 27, 2018 5:48 PM UTC Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch referred to Christine Blasey Ford as an “attractive” witness Thursday during a break in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both teenagers, recounted the alleged encounter in prepared remarks to the committee before answering questions about her claim. After the Judiciary Committee hearing broke for lunch, Hatch was asked whether he thought Ford had been credible thus far in her statements. The Republican senator said it was “too early” to tell. “I don’t think she’s uncredible,” he said, according to CNN. “I think she’s an attractive, good witness.” Asked what he meant by the word “attractive,” Hatch said: “In other words, she’s pleasing.” > [](https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1045355987362811905) As criticism grew on Twitter over Hatch’s choice of words during a hearing on sexual assault allegations against a Supreme Court nominee, the senator’s spokesperson weighed in, saying he used “attractive” to describe Ford’s personality. “Hatch uses “attractive” to describe personalities, not appearances,” Matt Whitlock, deputy chief of staff and communications director to Hatch, said in response to reporters tweeting about Hatch’s comments. “If you search his past quotes you’ll see he’s used it consistently for years for men and women he believed has compelling personalities.” In her testimony, Ford said said Kavanaugh got on top of her, tried to remove her clothes and put his hands over her mouth to prevent her from screaming at a house party in the 1980s in suburban Maryland. “It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me,” Ford said. Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegation, as well as the claims of several other women who have alleged misconduct by Kavanaugh. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5408721/christine-blasey-ford-orrin-hatch-attractive-witness/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5408721/christine-blasey-ford-orrin-hatch-attractive-witness/"},"headline":"Sen. 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