Washington (CNN) Republican Sen. John Cornyn expressed some frustration on Thursday with the format of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing convened to hear the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, saying the allotted five-minute time frame didn't give prosecutor Rachel Mitchell time to establish her line of questioning.

"It's not great," the Texas Republican said. "What would be better is if you were able to develop the evidence through continuous questioning over a period of time. So the five minute intervals are not great. But we're stuck with it."

After opening statements from Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley and the panel's top Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as well as Ford, each senator was given five minutes to ask Ford questions during a round of questioning.

During Thursday's hearing, Republican senators on the panel chose to yield their time to Mitchell, a career prosecutor with decades of experience prosecuting sex crimes. Mitchell sat in front of the 11 male GOP senators on the panel as she questioned Ford during the first part of the historic hearing. Democratic senators on the panel conducted their own questioning of Ford.

Ford has alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were in high school at a social gathering in the 1980's. Kavanaugh has categorically denied the allegation and will also provide testimony and face questioning during Thursday's hearing.

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