Trump feels ‘terribly’ for Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump showered sympathy Tuesday on Brett Kavanaugh, his embattled Supreme Court nominee who is accused of sexual assault, as Senate Republicans and Democrats fought over who should testify at a highstakes hearing on the allegation just six weeks before congressional elections.
But it is unlikely that Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who set off the controversy over Trump’s nominee, would appear at Monday’s Judiciary Committee hearing. Ford, a psychology professor at California’s Palo Alto University, has received death threats, one of her attorneys said Tuesday night on CNN. And a Twitter account with a white nationalist talking point for its handle posted Ford’s personal address. Kavanaugh
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Attorney Lisa Banks said Ford wants an FBI investigation before senators hold a hearing on the assault allegations. “She will talk with the committee,” Banks told CNN. “She’s not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on Monday.
“This is not a game,” Banks said. This “shouldn’t be rushed.”
Banks said she is reaching out to committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
In Palo Alto, friends of Ford have said the media firestorm is affecting her and her family.
“She can’t even go home,” friend Kirsten Leimroth told the San Jose Mercury News. “She had to have her kids stay somewhere else. She had to shut down all social media. Why would she do that?”
Democrats said they wanted more time for the FBI to investigate — and more witnesses besides Kavanaugh and Ford, hoping to avoid what would turn into merely a “he said, she said” moment. Those witnesses would include Kavanaugh’s high school friend MarkJudge, whoFordsaid was in the room when she was assaulted, but Judge said no.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegation, and Judge says he doesn’t remember any such incident.
The jockeying over the hearing underscored the political potency so close to an Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., flanked by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Majority Whip John Cornyn, RTexas, speaks with reporters. election that will decide control of the House and Senate, not to mention the confirmation of a conservative justice likely to serve on the high court for decades.
Democrats see their arguments about treating women fairly as the best hope for either sinking the appellate judge’s nomination or, should Kavanaugh win confirmation, amplifying their appeals to female voters in November. Republicans have been careful to be seen as giving Ford a chance to be heard, mindful that outright dismissal of her accusation could hurt on Election Day.
Still, the risks of a public hearing starring the all-male lineup of Republicans on the committee could be high.
Kavanaugh, 53, was at the White House for a second straight day, but again did not meet with Trump. The president said he was “totally supporting” Kavanaugh and rejected calls for the FBI to investigate the accusation.
Asked about the situation several times during the day, Trump did not mention Ford’s name but said he felt “terribly” for Kavanaugh, his wife “and for his beautiful young daughters.”
“I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this, to be honest with you, I feel so badly for him,” said Trump, who has himself faced numerous accusations of sexual harassment that he’s denied. “This is not a man that deserves this.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said an FBI investigation was essential. However, Trump rejected the idea of bringing in the FBI to reopen its background check of Kavanaugh, which would be likely to delay a confirmation vote until after the election. Republicans hope to have him confirmed by the Oct. 1 start of the next Supreme Court term.
Ford went public with her story Sunday, telling The Washington Post that Kavanaugh had forced himself on her in a bedroom at a party when he was 17 and she was 15, attempting to remove her clothes and clapping his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. She said she escaped when Judge jumped on the bed.
But in a letter to the Judiciary panel, Judge said he did not remember the party or the claimed incident. “More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes,” his letter said.
No. 2 Senate Republican leader John Cornyn of Texas was one of the few Republicans who questioned Ford’s version of events. “We just don’t know what happened 36 years ago,” he said. “There are gaps in her memory. She doesn’t know how she got there, when it was and so that would logically be something where she would get questions.”
Criticism like that fed a Democratic narrative that the GOP’s handling of Ford could jeopardize that party’s election prospects in the age of #MeToo.
“Now this is really what #MeToo is all about, if you think about it,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, top Judiciary Committee Democrat. “That’s sort of the first thing that happens, it’s the woman’s fault. And it is not the woman’s fault.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Ford could testify privately or appear publicly before national television cameras.