GOP pushes for showdown between Kavanaugh, accuser
WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are pushing forward with plans for a showdown Monday between Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who accused him of sexual assault in high school.
But on Tuesday night, CNN and The New York Times reported that Christine Blasey Ford wants an FBI investigation before a Senate hearing where she and Kavanaugh are expected to testify.
CNN reported that Ford’s letter, released through her attorney, is addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Ford says she has been targeted by “vicious harassment and even death threats” since coming forward with the allegations.
Grassley said earlier that his staff had contacted Ford by email “three or four times” to map out plans for a public hearing Monday without receiving a response.
“It kind of raises the question, do they want to come to the public hearing or not?” Grassley said.
Democrats want more time, more witnesses and a full FBI investigation of the alleged incident 36 years ago, when Ford says Kavanaugh tried to force himself on her and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.
Republicans have offered Ford one chance to tell her story.
“She’s going to be given the opportunity to be heard on Monday,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “She can do it privately, if she prefers, or publicly, if she prefers. Monday is her opportunity.”
Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals court judge chosen by President Donald Trump to succeed retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, has agreed to appear again after a four-day hearing earlier this month. He has denied the California college professor’s accusation that he assaulted her at a party in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., when he was 17 and she was 15.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has been wooed by Kavanaugh’s opponents in hopes she will vote against him, tweeted Tuesday she was “respectfully recommending” that at Monday’s hearing the lawyer representing Ford be allowed to question Kavanaugh. Similarly, she said Kavanaugh’s lawyer should be allowed to question Ford.
Democrats decried Republicans’ plans to push ahead with the hearing without seeking a full FBI investigation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also said more witnesses should be allowed to testify, including Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh’s at the time who Ford said was in the room when the alleged assault happened.
“There must be an agreement on witnesses, and the FBI should be given time to reopen its background check investigation into Judge Kavanaugh,” Schumer said. “That way, senators will have the necessary information and expert analysis at their disposal at the hearing, making it much less likely that it will evolve into a ‘he said-she said’ affair.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee who was first informed of Ford’s accusation in July when the woman requested anonymity, denounced Republicans’ efforts to limit the hearing to two witnesses.
“Compare that to the 22 witnesses at the 1991 Anita Hill hearing and it’s impossible to take this process seriously,” Feinstein said. “What about other witnesses like Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge? What about individuals who were previously told about this incident? What about experts who can speak to the effects of this kind of trauma on a victim?
“This is another attempt by Republicans to rush this nomination and not fully vet Judge Kavanaugh.”
All 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee urged FBI Director Chris Wray and White House Counsel Don McGahn to reopen Kavanaugh’s background investigation and provide a complete report before the hearing.
But the Department of Justice, referring to a statement released Monday, said the FBI fulfilled its role by forwarding a letter to the White House counsel’s office. “The allegation does not involve any potential federal crime,” a Justice Department spokesman said. “The FBI’s role in such matters is to provide information for the use of the decisionmakers.”