Accuser to testify against Kavanaugh

Senate delays vote as Republicans try to get Trump nominee confirmed

Republicans and Democrats face a week of uncertainty before the high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee showdown between Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who accuses him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers.

The GOP still may get Kavanaugh confirmed, but at a huge risk. The image of 11 male Republicans grilling a woman who says she’s the victim of sexual assault may not be what the party wants shortly before a congressional election at the height of the “Me Too” movement.

Democrats’ last chance to derail a nominee who seemed to be nearing confirmation rests on a claim by California college professor Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh assaulted her 36 years ago. Four of the committee’s 10 Democrats are women, and party members hope the drama will boost their bid to win control of the House and Senate on November 6. Much will ride on how Kavanaugh and Ford perform in the witness chair on September 24.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who is not on the committee but was among the Republicans who pushed for a public hearing, said Monday she doesn’t yet know whom to believe.

“That’s why we need to have a public hearing so I can assess her credibility,” Collins said. She earlier said she wants to hear “testimony under oath with a lot of questions asked of both of them.” “If Judge Kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying,” Collins said.

‘Serious Charges’

“These are serious charges,” said Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a GOP Judiciary Committee member. “And if they’re true, I think they’re disqualifying.” He said he told Republican leaders he would vote against confirmation unless the committee delayed its vote, originally planned for Thursday, to first hear from Kavanaugh and Ford. In the 51-49 Senate, two Republican defections would sink Kavanaugh if Democrats all vote no.

Ford says Kavanaugh was drunk at a Maryland house party in about 1982 and pinned her down on a bed, tried to remove her clothes and put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming. She said she was able to escape, but the Washington Post reported that she described it to a therapist in 2013 as a “rape attempt.”