Ford To Testify About Assault
Lawmakers Clash Over Kavanaugh Accuser’s Accord
WASHINGTON — Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, moved closer Saturday to reaching an agreement with Republicans for her to testify at a Senate hearing Thursday.
Ford’s representatives and Senate negotiators zeroed in on an arrangement for her to tell her story in a Thursday hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to people familiar with the situation. The talks were expected to continue Sunday.
The emerging accord marked the most concrete signs of progress yet in high-stakes negotiations that reached an impasse at the start of the weekend. Still, the Senate has made no public announcement of a hearing, and those close to the situation cautioned that they still needed to resolve some disagreements.
The sudden advance in the discussions came after Ford’s attorneys, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, emailed staff for Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, earlier Saturday to inform them Ford was prepared to appear before his panel.
“Dr. Ford accepts the Committee’s request to provide her firsthand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct next week,” they said, stopping short of accepting Grassley’s initial offer of a Wednesday hearing and complaining that the terms of his offer were “inconsistent with the Committee’s promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations.”
The parties were expected to continue hashing out hearing details through the weekend. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a key swing Republican vote on the panel, said Saturday that he would not mind if the hearing took place on Thursday, going against the hard line Grassley initially drew in the talks.
As negotiations continued, Leland Keyser, a woman Ford told The Washington Post was present at the party where she alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her, came forward to say she had “no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present,” according to an email her lawyer sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained by The Post. In a brief interview at her home in Silver Spring, Md., Keyser said that she was close friends with Ford and that she believes Ford’s allegation.
Before her name became public, Ford told The Post she did not think Keyser would remember the party because nothing remarkable had happened there, as far as Keyser was aware. Ford has said she did not tell anyone about the alleged assault until 2012.
“It’s not surprising that Ms. Keyser has no recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it,” Katz said in a statement. “It’s also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her. Dr. Ford of course will never forget this gathering because of what happened to her there.”
The email marked the latest turn in the tense showdown between Republican senators and Ford that has hovered over Kavanaugh’s nomination for days. Ford first told her story publicly in an interview with The Washington Post published last Sunday. Kavanaugh has firmly denied her allegations.
Several Republicans have accused Ford of delaying the hearing unnecessarily. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, tweeted “#Rope-adope,” referencing a boxing strategy of trying to tire out opponents by making them consistently go on offense.
“We have heard about different dates, conditions, and ever-changing schedules, but today we appear no closer to a fair hearing,” White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said late Saturday. “But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible.”
Last week, Grassley set plans in motion for the Judiciary Committee to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination Monday if Ford rejected or ignored committee Republicans’ demand for a Wednesday hearing. After Katz asked for more time to reply, Grassley had extended his deadline for a decision to Saturday afternoon.
The email from Ford’s lawyers — sent to reporters shortly before the 2:30 p.m. cutoff Grassley had set — does not specify which day Ford would agree to appear. The parties have agreed to continue discussions about hearing specifics on Sunday, according to people familiar with the conversations.
As the talks have progressed, Ford has expanded her legal team. Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general who has been representing former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, announced Saturday that he was resigning from his law firm, Robbins Russell, to work with Ford.
In an email to the firm’s staff — sent two minutes after Ford responded to Grassley’s invitation to testify — Bromwich said he was resigning because of objections within the firm to his representing Ford while employed there.
Ford has alleged that while she and Kavanaugh were teenagers in high school in the early 1980s, they attended a house party at which he drunkenly pinned her to a bed, groped her and put his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams as he tried to take off her clothes. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegation.
If a final agreement on the details of a hearing is reached, it would set the stage for a dramatic, searing confrontation in the coming week. Kavanaugh has said that he wants to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the matter. The panel has invited him to do so.
The negotiations between Ford’s lawyers and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have been contentious. They have centered on several points that have spurred some disagreements, including the prospect of a hearing on Wednesday instead of Thursday.