President defends Kavanaugh as panel works with accuser

Senators set Friday deadline for word on testimony.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump offered a robust defense of Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday, saying it was “very hard for me to imagine anything hap- pened” with the woman who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her when both were teenagers.

The president’s assessment came as it remained uncertain whether Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, would testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, and as Republican senators grew increasingly impatient and implored her to appear.

Ju d iciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Ford’s attorneys to respond by Friday on whether she plans to appear before his panel. While Grassley has been flexible on some aspects of her testimony — such as whether she wants to speak in private or pub- licly — he and other Repub- licans have not budged from the Monday schedule, nor are they willing to accom- modate her request for an FBI investigation before she testifies.

“I have reopened the hear- ing because I believe that anyone who comes forward with allegations of sexual assault has a right to be heard, and because it is the committee’s responsibility to fully evalu- ate the fitness of a nominee to the Supreme Court,” Grass- ley wrote to Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, who are Ford’s lawyers. “I therefore want to give Dr. Ford an opportu- nity to tell her story to the Senate and, if she chooses, to the American people.”

Grassley is also willing to send his staff to California to speak to Ford if she prefers, committee spokesman Garrett Ventry said. Ford is a psychology profes- sor at Palo Alto University, located northwest of San Jose in northern California.

The standoff over Ford’s testimony pe r sisted as Trump, in his most effusive defense of Kavanaugh yet, praised him as “an extraordinary man” with “an unblem- ished record,” and said what he is experiencing is “unfair.”

Still, the president also said that Ford deserves to be heard by the Judiciary Committee.

“If she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting, and we’ll have to make a decision,” he told reporters as he left the White House for North Carolina to survey hurricane damage.

Lawyers for Ford told the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she wants the FBI to investigate her allegations before she testifies, leaving it unclear whether she will appear Monday.

Republican senators are signaling that they are prepared to forge ahead with a committee vote for Kavana- ugh sometime next week — if not the high-stakes hear- ing itself.

In the Senate, the issue of when and if Ford might testify has ignited a furor, espe- cially among Democratic women. Democrats in general are complaining that the process is being rushed, but some women are seeing a deeper — and possi- bly insidious — narrative, especially if Republicans go ahead with Monday’s hear- ing without Ford.

“I think we all know when a situation is stacked,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, told CNN on Wednesday. “This is a situation that is stacked . ... She’s already been attacked, had to move out of her house.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a pivotal swing vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a member of the Judiciary Committee, both urged Ford to speak to senators on Monday. And Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who like Flake also pushed the Sen- ate to hit pause on Kavanaugh’s nomination until lawmakers heard from the professor, said: “If we don’t hear from both sides on Monday, let’s vote.”

Collins said Wednesday that Ford has a few ways she can detail her story to the committee by Monday, including in a public or private session that would be videotaped; or an interview conducted by congressional investigators.

“I don’t think she can reject, having made all of these serious allegations, I don’t think that she can reject all those options,” Collins said in an interview with WVOM radio in Maine. “Oth- erwise, there are these very serious allegations hanging over the head of a nominee who has emphatically denied them. And that’s just not a good way for us to end.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, dismissed calls to reopen an FBI background investigation of Kavanaugh as a delaying tactic and pushed the Senate to hold a committee vote “as soon as possible.”

Grassley left open the possibility that the hearing could occur Monday with only Kavanaugh present.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is accused of sexually assaulting a woman when they were both in their teens.