US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has emphatically fended off new accusations of sexual misconduct ahead of a charged public Senate hearing that could determine whether Republicans can salvage his nomination and enshrine a high court conservative majority.
The Senate Judiciary Committee - 11 Republicans, all men, and 10 Democrats - is due to hear from just two witnesses on Thursday: Mr Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge who has long been eyed for the Supreme Court, and Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor who accuses him of sexual misconduct when they were teens.
Republicans have derided her allegation as part of a smear campaign and a Democratic plot to sink Mr Kavanaugh's nomination.
But after more allegations emerged, some GOP senators have allowed that much is riding on Mr Kavanaugh's performance.
Even US president Donald Trump, who nominated Mr Kavanaugh and fiercely defends him, said he was "open to changing my mind".
"I want to watch, I want to see," he said at a news conference in New York.
Mr Kavanaugh himself has repeatedly denied all the allegations, saying he had never even heard of the latest accuser and calling her accusations "ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone".
The hearing will be the first time the country sees and hears from 51-year-old Ms Ford, beyond the grainy photo that has been flashed on television in the 10 days since she came forward with her contention.
In testimony released in advance of the hearing, she said she was appearing only because she felt it was her duty, was frankly "terrified" and has been the target of vile harassment and even death threats.
"It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court," she was to tell the senators. "My responsibility is to tell the truth."
In the hours before the hearing, Republicans were rocked by the new accusation from a third woman, Julie Swetnick.
In a sworn statement, she said she witnessed Mr Kavanaugh "consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s".
Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who also represents a porn actress who is suing Mr Trump, provided her sworn declaration to the Judiciary Committee.
In the hearing, Democrats plan to ask Mr Kavanaugh if he would be willing to undergo FBI questioning about the various claims - a request Republicans oppose - and press him about his drinking and behaviour as a teenager.
Ms Ford will testify first at the hearing.
