'Real stupid': Wait, THIS was seriously a factor in Heidi Heitkamp's 'no' vote on Brett Kavanaugh?

Sarah D | 2:32 PM on October 09, 2018

Before today’s Fox News report, you may not have known that during her tenure as North Dakota’s AG, Heidi Heitkamp didn’t take any real action with regard to the alleged physical and sexual abuse of children at a Native American boarding school. You probably didn’t know she’s a body-language expert, either::

Heidi Heitkamp was ready to vote "yes" on Brett Kavanaugh. Then she watched him with the sound off.

"It's something I do," she said; "We communicate not only with words, but with our body language and demeanor." https://t.co/9xKSsdHU6a pic.twitter.com/wsiEp8z29d

— CNN (@CNN) October 9, 2018

More from CNN:

She watched Ford’s testimony. And then she watched Kavanaugh’s. And then she watched Kavanaugh’s again, but this time, with the sound off.

“It’s something I do,” she said, “We communicate not only with words, but with our body language and demeanor.”

“I saw somebody who was very angry, who was very nervous, and I saw rage that a lot of people said, ‘well of course you’re going to see rage he’s being falsely accused,’ but it is at all times you’re to acquit yourself with a demeanor that’s becoming of the court,” Heitkamp said.

This is real stupid https://t.co/2lsGr2dtTb

— Alexandra DeSanctis (@xan_desanctis) October 9, 2018

Indeed it is. Though to be fair, it wasn’t the only factor in her ultimate decision:

It was also Heitkamp’s own experience as an attorney that changed her mind. Having dealt with victims of sexual assault, she said she instinctively believed Ford.

“I certainly think I have expertise beyond a number of people within the United States Senate and that expertise is that I have sat across the desk with victims people I’ve believed when they told me their story, and I had to say,’I believe you but these cases can’t be proved beyond a reasonable doubt so we can’t proceed with the prosecution.’ And when you’ve done that, you know for a victim, the most important thing you can say is ‘I believe you’ if you do, and I think it really came down to that I believed her,” Heitkamp recalled.