Accuser set to testify, but seeks terms
WASHINGTON — The woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault is prepared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, so long as senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” her lawyer told the committee Thursday.
The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, ruled out Monday as a possibility, but also appeared to leave the door open to testifying even if the FBI does not investigate her accusations, as she
had previously requested. The surprise offer was the latest twist in an on-again, off-again negotiation between Blasey Ford and Senate Republicans, who have scheduled a hearing for Monday and set Friday as a deadline for Blasey Ford to tell them whether she would attend.
“She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety. A hearing on Monday is not possible, and the committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event,” wrote the lawyer, Debra S. Katz, adding, “Her strong preference continues to be for the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow for a full investigation prior to her testimony.”
Blasey Ford’s accusations have rocked Washington, upending the confirmation proceeding for Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s second nominee to the Supreme Court, only days before he was to receive a vote in the committee. A research psychologist in California, Blasey Ford — who is sometimes just called Blasey or her married name, Ford — has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school in the early 1980s — an allegation he has vigorously denied.
Thursday’s email jump-started talks between Blasey Ford’s lawyers and Democratic and Republican committee aides that continued into the evening. They centered mostly on logistical issues, such as timing and security for Blasey Ford, and whether there might be additional witnesses; the discussions were cordial, according to several people familiar with them.
But there were a number of sticking points. Blasey Ford’s lawyers asked for the committee to subpoena other witnesses, and for Kavanaugh to testify first, but both requests are viewed by Republicans as nonstarters. Republicans had proposed bringing in an outside counsel to do the questioning, but the lawyers objected, fearing that the hearing would take a prosecutorial tone and arguing that senators themselves should be engaged.
The lawyers suggested Thursday as a hearing date, which Grassley is considering and taking up with his colleagues. And there was one point of agreement: Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that they needed to take steps to ensure Blasey Ford’s security.
The talks came a day after Republicans and Blasey Ford appeared to reach a stalemate, with Republicans — backed by Trump — demanding that Blasey Ford testify on Monday or not at all, and Blasey Ford resisting.
For his part, Kavanaugh said he wants a hearing as soon as possible, so that “I can clear my name.”
“Since the moment I first heard this allegation, I have categorically and unequivocally denied it,” he wrote in a letter released by the White House. “I remain committed to defending my integrity.”
Blasey Ford’s offer seemed to catch the White House off-guard. Trump advisers and people close to Kavanaugh were betting that she was unlikely to testify, and her decision to do so left Trump less bullish on the judge’s chances for confirmation than he was earlier this week.
The way forward — and what effect it might have on Kavanaugh’s chances for confirmation — remained unclear. On Wednesday, Republicans, sensing Kavanaugh had enough support to be confirmed despite the allegations, set a committee meeting for the following Wednesday for a possible vote to move the nomination to the floor. That session is now in question.
George Hartmann, a spokesman for Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, declined to say whether Grassley would accept a date other than Monday.
“We’re glad to hear back,” Hartmann said, “but that’s about the extent to which we can comment.”
The Blasey Ford email appeared to put Republicans — who on Wednesday were accusing Blasey Ford of backing out and calling her sincerity into question — back on the defensive. Republicans are aware that they can ill afford to look as if they are railroading a sexual assault survivor. If they stick to their position that Blasey Ford can testify on Monday or not at all, they risk looking like bullies — just weeks before midterm elections when their party is already expected to suffer from a backlash from women.
With the Senate out of session and many members back in their home states, Republicans were noticeably silent Thursday on Blasey Ford’s offer. Democrats appeared to be sticking to their position that an FBI investigation should precede any hearing.
“Our view on the Democratic side seems to hardening and deepening that an FBI investigation should be done, and I’m going to be reaching out to my Republican colleagues to set a timetable,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in an interview before the Blasey Ford email.
But after it came to light, he softened. Blasey Ford, he said, has “a right to decide how and when she tells her story.”
Those close to Blasey Ford, 51, have described her as overwhelmed and terrified. Since she went public Sunday in an interview published by the Washington Post, she has received an outpouring of support on social media, but also vulgar emails and messages, including some death threats — a point Katz reiterated in her email Thursday to the committee.
“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,” the email said. “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”
In both the interview with the Post and a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Blasey Ford said she had been at a small gathering of teens in suburban Maryland when Kavanaugh and a friend pushed her into a bedroom. As the friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pushed her onto a bed, jumped on her, groped her and tried to remove her clothing. He placed his hand over her mouth to muffle her calls for help as his friend turned up some music.
When his friend jumped on them, they all tumbled off the bed, she said. She then dashed from the room.
As the accusations play out, Blasey Ford’s charges are invariably evoking comparisons to the 1991 confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexual harassment by the law professor Anita Hill. Those hearings infuriated women across the United States who were outraged at the sight of Hill, an African-American woman, being grilled by an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee.
Earlier Thursday, committee Republicans had decided to hire an outside counsel to lead their questioning of Blasey Ford, rather than the committee members themselves, to avoid the image of 11 male senators questioning Blasey Ford about her account.
Instead, they were seeking to enlist the help of an experienced litigator familiar with assault cases — and are seeking a woman, according to one person familiar with the search. But because Blasey Ford’s lawyers objected, the future of that plan is now unclear.
Until last week, Kavanaugh, a onetime George W. Bush White House official who now serves on the D.C. federal appeals court, seemed to be on a glide path to confirmation. Republicans have been eager to confirm him before the November elections, knowing that if Democrats managed to win control of the Senate, it would be much harder to approve any Trump nominees.
Now, opposition continues to grow. About 270 Yale alumni — including actor Noah Emmerich, novelist Claire Messud and filmmaker Ira Sachs — signed a petition demanding that the nominee insist on the full release of records relating to his White House service. Citing their alma mater’s devotion to “lux et veritas” — truth and light — the petition said it was contrary to the professed ideals of the university to withhold some records.
Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, an independent, and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, a Democrat, came out against Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They said they worry that Kavanaugh would jeopardize Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, adding that his “record does not demonstrate a commitment to legal precedent that protects working families.” They also said that he has been hostile to laws that are favorable to Alaskan Natives. And, they added, “We believe a thorough review of past allegations against Kavanaugh is needed before a confirmation vote takes place.”
The statement from the governor and his lieutenant increased the pressure on Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a key undecided vote in the narrowly divided Senate.