Kavanaugh accuser talks to newspaper
Dems want vote delay; Flake ‘not comfortable’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was thrust into turmoil Sunday after the woman accusing him of high schoolera sexual misconduct told her story publicly for the first time.
Democrats called for a delay in a committee vote set for this later week, and a Republican on the closely divided panel said he is “not comfortable” voting on the nomination without first hearing from the accuser.
The woman, Christine Blasey Ford, told The Washington Post in her first interview that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party they attended in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.
Ford, 51, a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, said she was able to get away after a friend of Kavanaugh’s who was in the room jumped on top of them.
Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals judge in Washington, on Sunday repeated a denial of Ford’s allegation.
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” Kavanaugh said through the White House.
The allegation first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that has been in the possession of Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee now are demanding Feinstein publicly release that letter, The Hill reported.
The committee recently concluded four days of public hearings on the nomination, and the panel’s Republican chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, scheduled a Thursday vote on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm Kavanaugh.
A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee said late Sunday that Grassley is trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Feinstein.
But Sen. Jeff Flake, R-ariz., a committee member, told The Washington Post and Politico in interviews Sunday that he’s “not comfortable” voting for Kavanaugh until he learns more about the allegation.