Kavanaugh accuser wants FBI check first
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Nicholas Fandos and Peter Baker WASHINGTON — The woman who has accused President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault threw into doubt plans for an extraordinary Senate hearing to air her accusations, charging on Tuesday that some senators have already made up their minds and insisting that the FBI investigate first.
Speaking through her lawyers, Christine Blasey Ford did not explicitly rule out appearing next Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify along with Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
But echoing Senate Democrats, she said an investigation should be “the first step” before she is put “on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.”
Republicans are unlikely to negotiate an alternative date and could go ahead with the hearing without her or cancel it altogether if Ford refuses to appear and move quickly to a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination.
They have repeatedly stressed that Monday would be her opportunity to testify, either privately or publicly, and that they then planned to move forward with the confirmation process. They have also rejected the possibility of an FBI investigation.
The apparent standoff was yet another turn in a drama that has gripped the Capitol since Thursday, when the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee revealed that she had referred the sexual assault allegations to federal investigators. Ford, a research psychologist in Northern California, has accused the judge of sexually assaulting her more than 30 years ago when both were teenagers, a charge that Kavanaugh has categorically denied.
“If she does not come on Monday, we are going to move on and vote on Wednesday,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and a member of the committee, told Fox News on Tuesday evening.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday that he had sent several requests to lawyers for Ford to testify. But Grassley said that he had not gotten a reply, “so it kind of raises the question: Do they want to come to the public hearing or not?”
Trump also weighed in. “Judge Kavanaugh is anxious to do it,” he told reporters at the White House. “I don’t know about the other party.”
Ford, thrust suddenly into a spotlight that she never sought, has been inundated with vulgar email and social media messages, and even death threats, according to a person close to her, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private matter.
“From what I’ve heard you have 6 months to live, you disgusting slime,” one message said.
Ford, who has two teenagers, has moved out of her house, is arranging for private security for herself and her family, and is effectively in hiding, the person said. But she has also been buoyed by a flood of supportive messages from friends and strangers.
“Ninety percent of people think she’s a hero and are extremely supportive of her, and 10 percent want her to die immediately,” the person said, adding, “Her worst fears are coming true.”
Both Ford and Kavanaugh had said on Monday that they were willing to come before the committee.
Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, are clashing over the scope and shape of the hearings. Grassley said Kavanaugh and Ford would be the only witnesses, prompting pushback from top Democrats, who also want an FBI investigation to search for additional witnesses or evidence, and to avoid the specter of a “he said, she said” debate that will not get at the truth.
One possible witness is a friend of Kavanaugh’s, Mark Judge, who Ford said was in the room with Kavanaugh when the assault occurred. Judge had told the Judiciary Committee that he does not remember the episode and has nothing more to say, seemingly foreclosing the possibility of an additional witness interview, at least for now.
“We have two diametrically opposed stories,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor. “My view: Professor Ford is telling the truth. But if you don’t want the hearing to be just a ‘he said, she said’ affair, an independent investigation, a background check by the FBI, is essential.”
Trump on Tuesday rejected FBI involvement “because they don’t want to be involved.”