Kavanaugh, accuser say they will testify about allegations

Accusation of an ‘attempted rape’ when pair was in high school

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh’s carefully planned confirmation – once seen as a sure bet – slipped into limbo Monday after he and the woman accusing him of a decades-old sexual assault offered to testify about the allegations.

The Senate now appears increasingly unlikely to move ahead with a preliminary vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday because several key senators said they need to hear from the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University.

Republicans defended Kavanuagh and promised to investigate the claims. Democrats renewed their calls to slow down the process.

President Donald Trump said he was open to a delay, telling reporters that he wants to “go through a full process … and hear everybody out,” but saying that any idea of withdrawing Kavanaugh’s nomination was “ridiculous.”

The president added, “If it takes a little delay, it’ll take a little delay.”

Ford considers the incident, which allegedly occurred when both Ford and Kavanaugh were in high school in the early 1980s, an “attempted rape,” according to her attorney, Debra Katz.

Ford told The Washington Post that during a pool party in suburban Maryland, a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her down on a bed, tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she yelled for help. She fled when a second boy at the party jumped on the bed, sending all three tumbling off.

Kavanaugh denied the claim. “This is a completely false allegation,” he said in a statement Monday. “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes – to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.”

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-iowa, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he planned to make arrangements to hear from both Ford and Kavanaugh through follow-up “phone calls,” though Democrats and some Republicans predicted both would likely need to testify in person publicly.

“Anyone who comes forward as Dr. Ford has deserves to be heard, so I will continue working on a way to hear her out in an appropriate, precedented and respectful manner,” Grassley said of the California professor.