Image source, Getty Images

"One evening that summer, after a day of swimming at the club, I attended a small gathering at a house in the Chevy Chase-Bethesda area. There were four boys I remember being there: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, P. J. Smyth, and one other boy whose name I cannot recall."

"I do not remember all of the details of how that gathering came together, but like many that summer, it was almost surely a spur of the moment gathering."

"But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget," she said, voice breaking.

"They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult."

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"I am here today not because I want to be," Ford says in a quiet voice.

"I am terrified. 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."

"I understand and appreciate the importance of your hearing from me directly about what happened to me and the impact it has had on my life and on my family."

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"I anticipate after reading my opening statement I will need some caffeine if that is possible", she says before beginning.

Grassley asks her to move her microphone closer to her as she begins.

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"Anytime you ask for a break, you get a break," Senator Grassley told Ford before her testimony begins.

"Anytime there's something you need that you don't have, just ask us. You can have as much time for your opening statement as you want."

"What I find most inexcusable is this rush to judgement, the unwillingness to take these kinds of allegations at face value and look at them as what they are - a real question of character for someone who is asking for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court," Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said.

"In 1991 Republicans belittled Professor [Anita] Hill's experience saying, and I quote, 'it won't make a bit of difference'."

"Today our Republican colleagues are saying this is a hiccup, Dr Ford is mixed up and declaring I'll listen to the lady but we're going to bring this to a close."

Read more about Anita Hill and the movements surrounding the Kavanaugh-Ford case here.

Image source, AFP

Image source, pool

Ford has just been sworn in to the committee, and is now testifying to the committee.

She has been given unlimited time to give her opening statement, before questions begin.

She is also allowed to take as many breaks as she wants, Chairman Grassley says.

"Dr Ford did not want to make her story public," Feinstein said.

"Then within 36 hours of coming forward, Republicans scheduled a hearing without talking to her or even inviting her to testify.

"She was told she had to show up or the committee would move forward with a vote.

"It took a public outcry for the majority to back down and give her a few days to come before the committee."

Image source, Pool

"How women are treated in the US with this kind of concern is really wanting a lot of reform," Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said in her opening remarks.

She thanked Ford for her "strength and bravery" in coming forward.

"Sexual violence is a serious problem. One that largely goes unseen," the senator said.

One in three women and one in six men will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

"When survivors do report their assaults, it's often years later due to the trauma they've suffered and fearing they won't be believed."

Read more on the myths around sexual assault.

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Lawyers for Ramirez or Swetnick are "stonewalling" Republican efforts to get them to testify to the committee, Chairman Grassley says.

He says that multiple efforts to reach both women through their lawyers have been unsuccessful.

Ramirez says Kavanaugh exposed his genitals to her at a university party, and Swetnick says she was gang raped at a party attended by Kavanaugh in high school.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations against him, calling them "ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone".

Image source, Reuters

"The FBI provided us with the allegations. Now it's up to the Senate to assess their credibility," Senator Grassley said during his opening statement.

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said he sees no reason for any complaint on having prosecutor Rachel Mitchell question Christine Blasey Ford, "other than just plain politics".

"The testimony we're hearing today contains very serious allegations of sexual assault... this is not an easy one to discuss. That is why the senators on this side of the dais believe an expert who has deep experience and training in interviewing victims of sexual assault... should be asking questions."

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The witness nods in agreement as Grassley says: "[Ford and Kavanaugh] and their families have received violent threats.

"What they have endured ought to be considered by all of us as unacceptable and a poor reflection on the state of civility in our democracy.”

He says he hopes the hearing will be "safe, comfortable and dignified for both of our witnesses".

Grassley accuses Democrats on the panel of playing politics because they did not tell Republicans about Ford's allegation despite being aware of it since the end of July.

"These allegations could have been investigated in a way that maintained the confidentiality that Dr Ford requested." "This is a shameful way to treat a witness."

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Republican Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, apologised to both Kavanaugh and Ford.

"I want to apologise to you both for the way you've been treated," he said during his opening remarks.

Grassley said he wants a "safe" and "comfortable" hearing.

Image source, Getty Images

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

With the mid-term national elections just 40 days off, this hearing - and any subsequent confirmation votes – are weighing heavy in the minds of voters.

According to a Pew Research Center poll, external, 76% of the public thinks Supreme Court appointments are “very important” to their mid-term vote.

That’s slightly more than the number who list healthcare or the economy as important issues. In fact, it’s the first time since 2004 in the Pew survey that the economy has been at the top of the list.

That the Supreme Court is even moving the needle for voters is remarkable. Most of the time, the third branch of government is out of sight and out of mind for most when it comes to the ballot box.

This year, it appears, will be different. And it is by no means clear which political will be the beneficiary of this heightened level of interest.

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The Republican delegations of the judiciary committee have hired Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to lead the questioning of Ford.

Mitchell is currently on leave from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix where she has spent her career investigating sex crimes.

Republicans wanted to avoid the optics of having an all-male group of senators question a woman about her accusations.

Republicans say they hired her two days ago to "de-politicise" the hearing.

Image source, Pool

Ford has taken her seat.

Judiciary committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley is giving his opening statement now.

"I want to apologise to you both for the way you’ve been treated and I intend hopefully for today's hearing to be safe comfortable and dignified for both of our witnesses," Grassley says.

Image source, Getty Images

Actress and #MeToo activist Alyssa Milano is in the hearing room.

Milano, who starred on Who's the Boss? and Charmed, has said she believes Christine Blasey Ford.

After President Trump last week questioned why Ford didn't report her assault years ago, the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport began trending online.

Milano shared her experiences with harassment and assault with that tag, and by last Friday, the tag had over 122,000 tweets from both men and women.

Read more about #WhyIDidntReport here.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Two men who have been questioned by the judiciary committee have disputed Ford's claim, saying that they - not Kavanaugh - had a sexual encounter with Christine Blasey Ford at a 1982 house party.

The allegation was released by Senator Chuck Grassley late on Wednesday.

Both men told the committee that they, not Kavanaugh, "had the encounter with Dr Ford in 1982 that is the basis of his complaint", Mr Grassley's news release states.

One man was interviewed twice by committee staff, and submitted two written statements; one on Monday and one on Wednesday.

Another man spoke to the committee over the phone.

"He explained his recollection of the details of the encounter" to staff, the release states.

It's unclear how seriously the committee are treating the men's claims, but it adds a new twist to the drama.

Kavanaugh's high school friend, Mark Judge, has been named by Ford as a witness to her alleged assault. Democrats tried in vain to make the Republicans who control the judiciary committee subpoena him to testify today.

Ford said that Judge and Kavanaugh trapped her in a room at a house party in Maryland in 1982. She says they turned up the music, and Kavanaugh held his hand over her mouth as he groped her. Judge has said it never happened.

He is the author of a memoir - Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk - about his alcohol-fuelled escapades at the elite Georgetown Preparatory School in suburban Washington DC.

A character in the book, named Bart O'Kavanaugh, is described as a drunk who "puked in someone's car".

Copies of the book have reportedly been selling for $300 (£228) on eBay.

Judge has recently been spotted holed up at a beach house in Delaware, and is not attending today's hearing.

Georgina Rannard
BBC News

Image source, AFP

It’s a cloudy and muggy morning on Capitol Hill.

Protesters supporting both Judge Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford are gathered on opposite corners of the Dirksen building where the hearing will take place.

One woman, Nancy Wilson, tells me she believes the nomination process has been hijacked and the issue is not about women: “I support Judge Kavanaugh because he’s a constitutionalist and a distinguished man”.

At the entrance, groups stand and hold signs reading “Believe Women” and “I support Christine Blasey Ford.”

Julia Peter, 33, came from New York City and is deeply worried that a successful nomination would mean the end of pro-choice legislation in America.

When it starts to rain, people huddle under umbrellas.

A group holding “I Stand With Brett” sing “God Bless America”.

A group of tourists take pictures of “No Kavanaugh on the court” stickers, pleased they have visited as this historic event unfolds in front of them.

Like the six in 10 Americans who say they will follow today’s events, everyone is waiting to hear what Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh will say.

The president's son, Donald Trump Jr, says the media "will report any allegation" against his father's Supreme Court nominee.