Kavanaugh’s accuser offers four people to back accusation — Documents
WASHINGTON: A woman who has accused President Donald Trump’s US Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault will present senators with sworn declarations from four people to corroborate her allegations, according to copies of the statements released by her lawyers yesterday.
The declarations, first reported by USA Today, include signed documents from Christine Blasey Ford’s husband and three friends that her lawyers sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel is scheduled to hold a hearing on today on the accusations, ahead of a vote tomorrow on Kavanaugh’s nomination.
If his nomination clears the panel, it must win confirmation from the full Senate, which Republicans narrowly control 5149. A vote in the full Senate could happen as early as next Tuesday, senior Senate Republicans have said.
The accusation, along with one from a second accuser, have imperiled Kavanaugh’s lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court as Republicans work to shore up his Senate confirmation ahead of the Nov 6 congressional vote. Those elections could shift the balance of power in Congress as Democrats seek to regain control from conservatives.
Ford, a university professor in California, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982 when they were both high school students in Maryland. Another woman, Deborah Ramirez, has accused him of sexual misconduct when she and Kavanaugh were students at Yale University.
Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge, has denied the allegations and took his defense public this week in an interview on Fox News.
His attorney, Beth Wilkinson, in televised interviews yesterday, said Ford’s declarations cited recent interactions, not discussions at the time of the alleged incident, and that it was difficult to corroborate an accusation 36 years later.
“He admits that he drank and did some things that he looks back on and says are embarrassing and make you cringe ... But that’s not what this is about. This is about a very serious allegation, a very serious crime,” Wilkinson told “CBS This Morning.”
Senators will hear both sides at Thursday’s hearing, keenly aware of the impact it could have on voters, particularly women, against a backdrop of the # MeToo movement fighting sexual harassment and assault.
Republican President Donald Trump, who has also been accused of sexual misconduct, escalated his rhetoric against both of Kavanaugh’s accusers on Tuesday and called the allegations “a con game being played by the Democrats.”