Sen. Johnson: Kavanaugh and accuser should be heard
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Monday that the Senate Judiciary Committee should hear from U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of assaulting her in high school.
Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said they’re both willing to talk to the committee.
“Now the accuser has come forward and apparently she wants to tell her story and I think the Senate Judiciary Committee will certainly listen to her,” Johnson said in an interview with Steve Scaffidi of WTMJ-AM (620). “And I think it’s very appropriate that they do. I think it’s also appropriate that they listen to what Brett Kavanaugh has to say as well.”
Johnson, who has publicly supported Kavanaugh’s nomination, added, “I’m not sure where this goes from here but it’s really right now in the hands of the Judiciary Committee.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination and in a tweet Monday said Ford’s allegations are “deeply disturbing, serious and credible.”
Baldwin added, “There should be no vote on this lifetime nomination for our highest court until this matter is fully investigated,” and that Ford and Kavanaugh should appear before the Judiciary Committee.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir, who faces Baldwin in the fall, has been supportive of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Vukmir has not yet weighed in on the accusations against the judge.
In an interview Sunday with the Washington Post, Ford alleged that in the early 1980s while in high school in suburban Maryland, a drunken teenaged Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed and groped her over her clothes. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing,” she said.
Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.
“I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone,” he said in a statement Monday. “Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.”
Asked if the allegations will derail the nomination, Johnson said: “I can’t really predict. We’ll listen to her. We’ll listen to Brett Kavanaugh. First Judiciary Committee members will have to decide if they want to report out the nomination. If they do, then the rest of us will have to take a look at the evidence as well. We’ll be following it very closely.”