Accuser wants Kavanaugh claim probed before Senate hearing

The stand-off is yet another turn in a highstakes drama over president’s nominee

The woman who accused President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault all but ruled out appearing at an extraordinary Senate hearing scheduled for next week to hear her allegations, insisting on Tuesday that the FBI investigate first.

Christine Blasey Ford said she would cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee and left open the possibility of testifying later about her allegations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh. She said an investigation should be “the first step” before she is put “on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.”

Republicans signalled that they would not negotiate an alternative date and would go ahead with the hearing without her, then possibly move to a vote. They have repeatedly stressed that Monday would be Blasey’s opportunity to testify, and that they planned to move forward with the confirmation process afterward.

The apparent stand-off was yet another turn in a high-stakes drama over the president’s second nominee. Blasey, a research psychologist in Northern California, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her more than 30 years ago when they were teenagers at a boozy high school party, a charge that he has categorically denied.