Two women challenged Jeff Flake over his position on the supreme court nominee. Shortly afterward, he apparently changed his mind

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Their names are Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila.

In a dramatic confrontation on Capitol Hill on Friday, Gallagher, 23, and Archila, 39, blocked an elevator door to challenge the Republican senator Jeff Flake about his freshly announced intention to vote in favor of confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US supreme court.

Kavanaugh has been accused by several women of sexual assault and misconduct, accusations he has denied. The actions of Gallagher and Archila may have contributed to a decision by Flake to slow Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to allow time for the FBI to look into the allegations.

Having come to the Hill as protesters on Friday, Gallagher and Archila were on the lookout for Flake, who as a moderate Republican was a potentially crucial vote on the judiciary committee.

When Flake stepped into a senators-only elevator, Archila blocked the door, and Gallagher told the senator, in a voice filled with anguish, that she was a victim of sexual assault.

“I was sexually assaulted and nobody believed me,” Gallagher said. “I didn’t tell anyone, and you’re telling all women that they don’t matter.”

Flake evaded her eyes, looking down and mumbling that he needed to go.

“Don’t look away from me,” Gallagher said. “Look at me and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me. That you’ll let people like that go on to the highest court in the land and tell everyone what they can do to their bodies.”

Archila jumped in. “Senator Flake,” she said, “do you think that Brett Kavanaugh is telling the truth?” When Flake demurred, she insisted he reply.

“I’m standing right here. Tell me,” she said. “Do you think that he is telling the truth?”

Hours later, the judiciary committee was thrown into disarray when Flake apparently changed his mind about his vote in favor of Kavanaugh. After news of the FBI investigation broke, Gallagher tweeted:

I feel relieved that @JeffFlake seems to have heard my and @AnaMariaArchil2’s voices in the Senate elevator today. We absolutely need an FBI investigation and for him and all Senators to vote NO. #StopKavanaugh

Maria Gallagher (@mgallagher822) I feel relieved that @JeffFlake seems to have heard my and @AnaMariaArchil2’s voices in the Senate elevator today. We absolutely need an FBI investigation and for him and all Senators to vote NO. #StopKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/VnsfTIRGXJ

Dr Christine Blasey Ford

Dr Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor, offered wrenching testimony before the Senate judiciary committee about being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh at a house party in the Washington DC suburbs in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denied the accusation in subsequent testimony.

“I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified,” Ford said. “I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.”

Ford described being forced into a bedroom by a drunken Kavanaugh and his friend, Mike Judge, pinned down and assaulted as they laughed “uproariously” at her expense and tried to smother her screams.

It was hard for me to breathe, and I believed that Brett was accidentally going to kill me.

Ford’s testimony was viewed by millions of Americans and further galvanized opposition to the Kavanaugh nomination.

Pressure on Collins and Murkowski

Protesters held demonstrations and sit-ins at the offices of two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who could provide crucial “no” votes to defeat the Kavanaugh nomination. Phone lines to Collins’s offices were overwhelmed, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sit-in protest outside senator Susan Collins’s office in Portland, Maine.

Photograph: Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Murkowski told reporters at the Capitol on Friday that she supported Flake’s call for a delay on the Kavanaugh vote until an FBI investigation could be conducted.

Anita Hill

Facebook Twitter Pinterest In a 1991 file photo, Anita Hill testifies before the Senate judiciary committee on the nomination of Clarence Thomas. Photograph: Anonymous/AP

Anita Hill, who testified in 1991 about being sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas, whom the Senate proceeded to elevate to the supreme court, told the Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday that the #MeToo movement would continue no matter what the outcome in the Kavanaugh case.

“Remember, #MeToo is about raising awareness,” she said. “Just because the Senate’s awareness hasn’t been raised doesn’t mean that the rest of us haven’t evolved and learned.”

Hill said the memorable turquoise suit she wore during her testimony had been in storage since that day, but she had decided to donate it to the Smithsonian.

“It’s still in a garment bag,” Hill said. “But yes, it will leave my possession at some point. I haven’t quite figured out when.”