Accuser of Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh agrees to testify to Senate committee

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - A woman who has accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has agreed to testify before a Senate panel next week but details of her appearance have not been finalized, her lawyers said yesterday.

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley had set a Saturday afternoon deadline for Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assaulting her at a high school party 36 years ago, to decide if and how she will testify.

“Dr. Ford accepts the committee’s request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct next week,” Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, Ford’s attorneys, said in a statement. “We are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details.”

The Republican-controlled committee had delayed a vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation after Ford’s allegations emerged last week and her lawyers and committee staff were negotiating the conditions of her testimony.

Kavanaugh has denied the allegation and pledged to testify.

Confirming Kavanaugh’s nomination would cement conservative control of the Supreme Court and advance a White House effort to tilt the American judiciary farther to the right.

Grassley had said earlier that the panel would vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Monday unless a deal was reached with Ford’s lawyers by a Friday night deadline. Katz had said the deadline was “aggressive and artificial.”

“Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate,” Katz added.

On Friday, President Donald Trump sought to cast doubt on Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when both were high school students in Maryland.

The judiciary committee has struggled with how to proceed with Kavanaugh’s nomination. Democrats have demanded more time for scrutiny, and Republicans want to move ahead quickly with a confirmation vote in an increasingly volatile political climate ahead of congressional elections on Nov. 6.