Lindsay Graham to rape survivor: 'Go to the cops'

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Photo: Pool/Getty Images Photo: Pool/Getty Images Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close Lindsay Graham to rape survivor: 'Go to the cops' 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

A woman who attended the Brett Kavanaugh-Christine Blasey Ford hearing Thursday claimed that when she accosted Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) in a hallway to tell him about her own assault, Graham curtly dismissed her and hurried off.

Robin Swirling tweeted that "@LindseyGrahamSC said he did not believe Dr. Ford because she couldn't recall the exact date of the assault. I told him I was raped 13yrs ago but don't know the date. So would he believe me?"

She says his reply was "I'm sorry, but then you should go to the cops."

That was me! @LindseyGrahamSC said he did not believe Dr. Ford because she couldn’t recall the exact date of the assault. I told him I was raped 13yrs ago but don’t know the date. So would he believe me?



He said “I’m sorry, but then you should go to the cops.”#BelieveSurvivors https://t.co/UERpDmvBU9 — Robyn Swirling (@RSwirling) September 27, 2018

Swirling followed up with another tweet: "If @LindseyGrahamSC had paused to talk with me, instead of rushing into the elevator, I'd have told him the cops can't do anything about it now, but that doesn't make it any less true and doesn't make me any less credible."

Twitter user Rachel Perrone tweeted that she noticed Swirling attempting to talk to Graham in a video clip.

Before the encounter, Graham talked to reporters about Thursday's hearing in which he admonished his Republican colleagues and seemed to threaten Democratic senators. His remarks included the following:

"Let me put it this way to my Republican colleagues. If this becomes the new standard, where you have an accusation for weeks, you drop it right before the hearing, you withhold from the committee a chance to do this in a professional, timely fashion; when they publicly say that their goal is to delay the vote, get the Senate back in 2018 to make sure he can't fill the seat, they're publicly saying that: I don't want to reward that kind of behavior. I think we've been very fair.

"To my Republican colleagues: If you can ignore everything in this record, looking at an allegation that's 35 years old, that's uncertain in time, place, date, and no corroboration. If that's enough for you, god help us all as Republicans, because this happens to us, it never happens to them.

"But let me tell my Democratic friends: If this is the new norm, you'd better watch out for your nominees."

Read the latest on Thursday's testimony HERE.

ALSO: Republican Senator Calls Ford 'Attractive,' 'Pleasing' Witness

ALSO: Twitter reactions to Christine Blasey Ford hearing: Anger at Chuck Grassley dominates

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Read Mike Moffitt's latest stories and send him news tips at mmoffitt@sfchronicle.com.

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