Kavanaugh accuser agrees to testify about sex assault allegation
Some details remain in negotiations
WASHINGTON – Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has tentatively agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday about her allegations of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.
Earlier Saturday, Ford’s attorney told the committee she agreed to testify but wanted to continue negotiating the details of her appearance.
“Dr. Ford accepts the committee’s request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct next week,” Ford’s attorney Debra Katz wrote to the committee leadership staff Saturday just before a 2:30 p.m. deadline.
The letter did not spell out precisely under what conditions Ford would testify. And it suggested that key sticking points remained unresolved.
Aides to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But other Republicans on the panel immediately blasted Katz’s statement as another delaying tactic.
“Worth noting that this is exactly where we were on Monday morning,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah said in a tweet Saturday. Without agreement on a date, time, and terms, we are no closer to hearing from Dr Ford then we were when her lawyers said Dr. Ford was willing to testify during their media tour,” Hatch added.
If all the details are worked out, Ford’s decision to appear before the committee sets up a high-stakes hearing this week that will give Kavanaugh’s accuser a chance to tell her story publicly for the first time – allegations that have cast doubt over Kavanaugh’s once-assured confirmation and created intense political pressure on Senate Republicans in the #MeToo era.
Ford alleges that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a house party in the 1980s, when they were both teenagers at Washington-area private schools.
In an explosive interview in the Washington Post, Ford said an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her, put his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams and tried to remove her clothes.
Kavanaugh repeatedly has denied the allegations.
Shortly after Ford went public with her story, her lawyers signaled that she would be willing to testify publicly.