Kavanaugh, accuser set to testify before Senate

WASHINGTON— Republicans abruptly laid plans Monday for a Senate committee hearing at which Brett Kavanaugh and the woman alleging he sexually assaulted her decades ago will testify publicly, as GOP leaders grudgingly opted for a dramatic showdown they hoped would prevent the accusation from sinking his Supreme Court nomination.

With Republicans increasingly unwilling to plunge ahead without openly examining the allegations, Senate judiciary committee chairman Chuck Grassley said his panel would hold a hearing next Monday with both Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

“To provide ample transparency, we will hold a public hearing Monday to give these recent allegations a full airing,” Grassley said in a statement.

Just hours earlier, top Republicans had shown no interest in a theatrical spectacle that would thrust Kavanaugh and Ford before television cameras with each offering public versions of what did or didn’t happen at a high school party in the early 1980s.

Republicans had also displayed no willingness to delay a judiciary panel vote that Grassley had planned for this Thursday to advance the nomination, setting the stage for full Senate confirmation of Kavanaugh by month’s end, in time for the new Supreme Court session. Thursday’s vote will not occur.

U.S. President Donald Trump telegraphed earlier Monday that that schedule might slip. He told reporters at the White House: “If it takes a little delay, it will take a little delay.”

If the judiciary committee’s timetable slips, it would become increasingly difficult for Republicans to schedule a vote before the Nov. 6 elections.