Screenshot: CNN

CNN Newsroom’s Brooke Baldwin ended her Friday afternoon program with a monologue, giving voice toĀ survivors of sexual assault sharing their truth in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony against Brett Kavanaugh.

ā€œWe all have our stories,ā€ Baldwin said, voice steady as her eyes became glassy with tears. ā€œThe spiked drink. Waking up on the cold tiles of a hotel bathroom floor. The uncertainty. The shame. The thought I must have somehow brought this on myself. The silence, distrust, and invalidation. This is a pivotal moment in America for all of us.ā€

Baldwin added, ā€œThis matters. This moment is bigger than politics.ā€

Ford’s testimony moved millions of Americans and brought untold numbers of survivors out of the shadows. Baldwin spoke of a young woman in her office sharing her own story after Ford’s hearing. C-SPAN’s talk line was flooded with stories from sexual assault survivors, including a 76-year-old woman whose story of being molested as a second grader went viral. This morning, 23-year-old Maria Gallagher said she hadĀ never told anyone about her sexual assault until she ambushed Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator, potentially prompting Flake to call for a more thorough investigation into Ford’s claims against Kavanaugh.