Trump attacks claims of Kavanaugh’s accuser
GOP pushes for Senate hearing Wednesday
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Friday questioned why the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault waited years to report the incident, leveling his most direct criticism yet at Christine Blasey Ford.
“I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”
The comments departed from the more restrained approach Trump has taken when discussing Ford. In his comments earlier this week, Trump focused on defending Kavanaugh’s character while lamenting the public attention the accusation has received.
Ford has come forward with claims that Kavanaugh and a friend took her into a room at a party in the early 1980s, when he was 17 and she was 15. She said he pinned her to a bed, groped her, tried to remove her clothes and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Kavanaugh has denied the allegation.
Experts say it is common for victims to delay reporting sexual abuse, in part because they feel ashamed or are fearful. Some studies suggest that only about one-third of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to police.
Through her lawyers, Ford reiterated Thursday that she would be willing to testify before senators about her allegation if certain requests were honored. On Friday, Republicans agreed to some and not others.
They said the public hearing should be held Wednesday, a day earlier than Ford wanted but two days later than previously planned. They said she should testify before Kavanaugh, not after him, as she sought. They agreed to provide security and limit the number of photographers. But they refused to subpoena Mark Judge, who she said was in the room during the assault.
Most Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., have said the Senate should move quickly to confirm Kavanaugh before the November midterm elections.
“In the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court,” McConnell said in a speech at the Value Voters Summit in Washington. “So, my friends, keep the faith, don’t get rattled by all of this. We’re going to plow right through it and do our job.”
Others, notably Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have been more cautious. Collins said Friday she was “appalled” by Trump’s tweet about Ford.
“We know allegations of sexual assault are one of the most unreported crimes that exist,” she told The Portland Press Herald. “So I thought that the president’s tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong.”
Republicans can confirm Kavanaugh without support from Democrats, but they can afford to lose only two of their own members.
Trump’s tweet Friday went further in questioning Ford’s account than the remarks he made in an interview with Fox News late Thursday night.
“Why didn’t somebody call the FBI 36 years ago?” Trump said on Fox. “I mean, you could also say, ‘When did this all happen? What is going on?’ ”
Later Friday morning, Trump turned his sights on Democrats who raised Ford’s accusation late in the confirmation process. “Let her testify, or not, and TAKE THE VOTE!” he tweeted.
While Trump approached the issue cautiously in his initial comments, some of his surrogates have not.
Ed Whelan, a conservative legal scholar and prolific blogger, tweeted at length Thursday on a theory of mistaken identity in which he even named a Kavanaugh look-alike who could have been the attacker. Whelan apologized for the screed Friday amid a torrent of criticism.