‘ENSURE HER SAFETY’
Kavanaugh accuser calls for ‘fair terms,’ later testimony date
The woman who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault would testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee if members agree to “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” her lawyer said in an e-mail to committee staffers Thursday.
But Debra Katz, the attorney for Christine Blasey Ford, also wrote in the e-mail that testifying Monday — the day Republicans have set for a hearing — “is not possible and the committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.”
Katz later met with Senate officials and said that Ford would be willing to testify next Thursday, but that she doesn’t want the Supreme Court nominee in the room, a Capitol Hill aide said.
In her e-mail, Katz said it was Ford’s “strong preference” that “a full investigation” occur before her testimony but did not repeat her demands for an FBI probe, which GOP senators and President Trump have opposed.
“As you are aware, she has been receiving death threats, which have been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and she and her family have been forced out of their home,” Katz wrote.
“She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”
Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, has also received hate mail, CNN reported.
One e-mail obtained by the network bore the subject line “Hi Ashley” and read, “My condolences to you for being married to a rapist. Although you probably deserve it.”
Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley’s deadline of 10 a.m. Friday for Ford to respond to his invitation to testify Monday was flexible, according to reports.
And Katz reportedly negotiated Thursday night with committee staffers over the timing and parameters for a session sometime next week.
It wasn’t clear whether Ford wanted to testify in open session or behind closed doors, but she was amenable to a public hearing if enough of her conditions were met, Politico reported.
Her team also requested that the Senate subpoena Mark Judge, whom she claims was in the room during the assault. The committee had already turned down that request.
Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a highschool party in Maryland in 1982.
Kavanaugh has denied the charge and has Trump’s backing.
About 40 protesters, mostly women, clogged the lobby of Grassley’s Senate office Thursday. Many wore buttons printed with the message, “I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.”
The confirmation fight has widened ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections, in which Democrats hope to take control of Congress.
Democrats charge that the GOP wants to rush the confirmation process before Kavanaugh is fully vetted so they can campaign on his appointment.
Are Senate Democrats really interested in learning the truth about the high-school sex-assault accusation against Brett Kavanaugh? Or are they just scheming to exploit it in the fall campaign?
Faced with a backlash against accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s refusal to testify next Monday, her lawyer suddenly shifted strategy — saying Ford’s prepared to testify “next week,” but only under “fair” terms.
Yet the lawyer also insisted that testimony “is not possible” on Monday. So with committee rules requiring at least a week’s notice, that could push off her appearance into October, with a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination not possible until shortly before Election Day.
Which would make Democrats very happy, even if — especially if — Kavanaugh is confirmed. As Axios reports, they’re already making plans to repeat their tactics after the gender-charged Clarence Thomas hearings, which led to the election of a record number of female Democrats in the “Year of the Woman” in 1992.
This time, they see the GOP losing “the war of public opinion,” letting Dems shift the fall debate away from economic growth into a referendum on women’s rights.
And, as Axios also reports, Democrats “feel confident” that “every rich liberal in America would help fund this effort.”
Democrats would love to block Kavanaugh, but they’re more focused on using Ford to win big at the polls. That’s political cynicism at its worst.