So She Won’t Testify

It turns out that Christine Blasey Ford actually isn’t “willing to do whatever it takes to get her story forth,” after all. Her preconditions for testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee include a demand for “a full investigation by law-enforcement officials” — specifically, the FBI. That’s completely outrageous. The committee should proceed as scheduled with next Monday’s hearing. If she shows, or makes arrangements to testify behind closed doors or to committee staffers, fine. If not, it’s time to vote.

Would an FBI investigation change her testimony? For that matter, would Democrats even accept a probe that — as with Anita Hill’s accusations against Clarence Thomas — couldn’t confirm her allegation?

The FBI is declining to investigate because no federal crime has been alleged (as it was in the Thomas-Hill case) and be- cause that’s not the Bureau’s job in a confirmation process.

Besides, as Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley notes, “If Senate Dems think they need the FBI to investigate, why didn’t they alert the FBI on July 30,” when Sen. Dianne Feinstein learned of Ford’s allegation?

Fact is, Feinstein (while claiming she was only respecting Ford’s request for anonymity) sat on this until Democrats desperately needed something — anything — to sidetrack Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Republicans led by Grassley have treated Ford with the utmost courtesy and respect and bent over backward to accommodate her (supposed) wish to be heard.

But that doesn’t extend to agreeing to a process that’s plainly meant to halt any vote till past November or even 2020. Ford has been offered her choice of forums: If she won’t use any of them, let’s move forward.