Hundreds in Bay Area protest Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

Byby Kate Larsen KGO logo
Friday, October 5, 2018
Hundreds in Bay Area protest Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh
Union workers marched from San Francisco's Union Square to City Hall on Thursday, and rallies continued in Palo Alto, Calif.

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- There were rallies all over the Bay Area Thursday night, protesting Judge Brett Kavanaugh and supporting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

One family-friendly demonstration in Palo Alto, Calif., got heated, when counter-protesters showed up.

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"We believe Christine!" San Francisco protesters shouted. Hundreds of union workers marched from City Hall to Union Square, urging the Senate to deny Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation.

The rallies continued in Palo Alto, Blasey Ford's hometown, where families came out to support Dr. Ford and say no to Judge Kavanaugh.

A group of women, called "The Raging Grannies," lead songs and cheers, chanting "Kava-no! Kava-no!" at the rally on the corner of Embarcadero Road and El Camino Real.

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"We are fighting for women's rights," said 8-year-old Abigail Neumann, who held up a sign that said "Thank you Ms Christine."

Abigail's father Paul Neumann came to the rally with his wife and three of his children. "We teach our children, our son and our daughters, that it's important to stand up for what's right and to show that by being supportive of Christine," Neumann said.

In the middle of the rally a small group of counter-protesters showed up with Trump and Kavanaugh signs.

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"There is absolutely no corroborating evidence," said Jeanne Solnordal, a Piedmont resident who was holding a large Trump banner.

When asked if she believes Dr. Ford, she replied, "Absolutely not."

"It's just very difficult to prove, to make any sense out of it from an allegation standpoint," said Rick Smith, who is a former FBI agent and now a private investigator in San Francisco.

Smith is not surprised by how quickly the FBI submitted a report this week, because he says there would have been agents all over the country conducting simultaneous interviews. It's the length of time since the alleged sexual assault that he said poses a problem.

"I was in the FBI for 25 years and I've been in the private sector for 22, 47 years, I've never interviewed anybody about something that happened 36 years ago, you're just not going to get anywhere with it."

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