In Praise of Rachel MitchellAmerican Thinker, Oct 4, 2018, Sally Zelikovsky
Many people , including Alan Dershowitz, have heavily criticized Rachel Mitchell for failing to aggressively cross-examine Dr. Ford at the Senate hearing. As a former litigator, I believed during the hearing, and still maintain, that she took the right approach. That said, I do not know what she was tasked with: if she was told to do what she did or was asked to rip Dr. Ford a new one (I highly doubt that); if the senators were just playing the entire thing by ear; or if they planned to have her question Kavanaugh and then yield to committee members.
I admit, at times, like most of you, I just wanted her to go for the jugular, but Mitchell's cooler head wisely prevailed.
What she did and did beautifully despite the ridiculousness of the five-minute ping-ponging was (1) lay a foundation; (2) elicit admissions from Dr. Ford; (3) tack back and forth in time and subject matter; and (4) display a calm demeanor, which was nothing less than I would expect from a seasoned sex crimes trial attorney.
Let me add that it became glaringly obvious after the second five-minute round that they should have canned the five-minute rule and collectively yielded their time to Mitchell in 30- or 60-minute increments, facilitating the opportunity to dig deeper and calmly extract even more discrepancies, inconsistencies, and tenuous memories from the oddly bespectacled Surf Rat.
Laying the foundation for the facts of the case is beneficial to everyone. You establish timelines and demeanor, set the scenery, etc., and put the witness at ease. It is Mitchell's job to make the accuser-witness feel comfortable answering questions so she ultimately divulges information. Had Rachel come across as The Grand Inquisitor, Ford would have immediately gone on the defensive and clammed up, and her attorneys would have objected to every question and advised her with respect to every answer. Ford's responses would be "I do not recall," "I have no knowledge," and "I have been advised by my counsel to..." The entire process would have been for naught.
More:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/10/in_praise_of_rachel_mitchell.html
