Kavanaugh accuser might testify
Attorney for Ford says she’ll require ‘terms that are fair’
WASHINGTON — Christine
Blasey Ford may personally testify against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after all, her attorney said Thursday, breathing new life into the prospect of a Senate showdown next week over Ford’s accusation that he assaulted her when both were in high school.
The preference would be for Ford to testify next Thursday, and she doesn’t want Kavanaugh in the same room, her attorney told Judiciary Committee staff in a 30-minute call that also touched on security concerns and others issues, according to a Senate aide who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ford is willing to tell her story to the Judiciary Committee, whose senators will vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation — but only if agreement can be reached on “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” attorney Debra Katz said in an email earlier Thursday. In the call, she said Ford needs time to secure her family, prepare her testimony and travel to Washington. No decisions were reached, the aide said.
The discussion revived the possibility that the panel would hold a hearing at which both Ford and President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee could give their versions of what did or didn’t happen at a party in the 1980s.
Kavanaugh, now a judge on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has repeatedly denied her allegation.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-iowa, has scheduled a hearing for Monday morning, and he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., have indicated it would be Ford’s only chance to make her case.
Taylor Foy, spokesman for Republicans on the panel, said after the call that Grassley “will consult with his colleagues on the committee. He remains committed to providing a fair forum for both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh.”
In the call later Thursday, Katz asked the committee to subpoena Mark Judge, whom Ford has named as the other teen in the room at the time. Judge has told the committee he does not recall the incident and does not want to speak publicly.
Should Ford testify, especially in public, it would pit the words of two distinguished professionals against each other as television close-ups capture every emotion.
If Ford opts not to participate, Republicans could well dispense with the hearing.
Kavanaugh, who’s been eager to testify, said he was ready to appear Monday.
“I will be there,” he wrote Grassley in a letter. “I continue to want a hearing as soon as possible, so that I can clear my name.”