Kavanaugh and his accuser say they’re willing to testify
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, said he is willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee about accusations from a woman who said he sexually assaulted her while they were teenagers in high school.
Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is also willing to testify before Congress, Blasey’s lawyer said Monday.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and in a statement Monday said, “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.”
Blasey, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University in northern California, told the The Washington Post that a drunken, teenage Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, groped her and covered her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Trump’s counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, said that she had spoken with the president and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and that the woman “will be heard.”
Calls for delaying the Senate’s vote on Kavanaugh, planned for Thursday, grew Monday.
Republicans had hoped to confirm Kavanaugh before the midterm elections in November, when their control of the Senate could slip away.
Conway, speaking Monday on “Fox & Friends,” said the Senate Judiciary Committee would decide when and how Blasey’s testimony would be heard.
Democrats say the vote should be delayed so that the committee can hear Blasey — a move Republicans have said is a stalling tactic.
Blasey was willing to testify before Congress, Debra Katz, a lawyer, said Monday about her client, who has been referred to in news accounts as Ford but goes by Blasey professionally.
There was no indication early Monday that the Judiciary Committee had requested such testimony or that the panel planned to delay the vote.
A key Republican on the committee, however, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, told Politico that he was “not comfortable voting yes” on Kavanaugh’s nomination until he learned more about Blasey’s account.
Flake’s objection could force a delay for the committee, which has 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats.