https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/20/kavanaugh-supreme-court-ford-831112

Kavanaugh accuser open to testifying next week

But an attorney for Christine Blasey Ford writes that she won't go before the Judiciary Committee Monday.

By BURGESS EVERETT and ELANA SCHOR 09/20/2018 10:41 AM EDT Updated 09/20/2018 04:06 PM EDT

Christine Blasey Ford is "prepared" to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee next week about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, but is ruling out the Senate GOP's plan to hold the hearing on Monday.

Ford's attorney Debra Katz told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Ford "wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety," in an email obtained by POLITICO and first reported by the New York Times. Senate Republicans have offered her public or private testimony before the committee, whatever makes Ford feel most comfortable.

"A hearing on Monday is not possible and the Committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event. Dr. Ford has asked me to let you know that she appreciates the various options you have suggested. Her strong preference continues to be for the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow for a full investigation prior to her testimony," Katz wrote. She added that she wants to talk to top Judiciary Committee staffers on Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky,) would not answer questions about whether Ford should be accommodated or whether the hearing must occur on Monday.

A spokesman for Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said: "We are glad to finally hear back from them."

While Katz's note puts the burden on Grassley to decide whether to accommodate her, Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination nonetheless appears back on track for the moment. The GOP is increasingly confident and Democrats decidedly alarmed that the Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed despite a sexual assault allegation against him.

Ford’s attorneys and Democrats have asked for an FBI investigation into the alleged assault in high school and more witnesses to appear before the panel, but the GOP has shrugged them off.

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said on Fox News on Thursday that if Ford and the committee can't work out a hearing and provide new information, "after the time we’ve spent on this, it's time to move forward and get the votes in next week.”

Kavanaugh “says he is innocent. And we have to get this information out. If the person who has this information doesn't provide it, then I think it's time we face the reality that we need to move on. We have already spent 50 percent more time confirming Judge Kavanaugh than the last six judges. It's time to get this to a decision," Perdue said.

Senate Democrats have asked for Monday’s hearing to be delayed given the circumstances and Ford’s discomfort with the format. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that Ford should skip the “sham hearing” if the FBI doesn’t investigate, and some of her colleagues are fretting that Kavanaugh will be confirmed whether Ford testifies or not.

“They’re going to get this guy on the court come hell or high water,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said in an interview. “I’m going to continue to raise my voice.”

“I do hope she testifies, but I deeply respect her hesitation,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told reporters at the Capitol. He argued the delay both Democrats and Ford are seeking is not unreasonable: “This doesn’t need to take months but it should take a few days.”

Indeed, Grassley told committee Democrats in a Wednesday evening letter that the hearing will proceed. He said it was be a “disservice” to everyone to “delay this hearing any further” and said he will view additional complaints about the committee process “very skeptically.”

Grassley also put the blame on Democrats for the manner in which a letter Ford wrote about her story, given confidentially to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in late July, was leaked to the press. “This is but the latest — and most serious — of your side’s abuse of this confirmation process," he said.

Mike Davis, Grassley’s chief counsel for nominations on the committee, tweeted that he interviewed Kavanaugh “under penalty of felony” if the nominee lied to him, while Ford’s attorneys “can’t find time between TV appearances.” Davis added that he is “unfazed and determined. We will confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”

“We got a little hiccup here with the Kavanaugh nomination, we’ll get through this and we’ll get off to the races,” said Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) on a call with Republicans on Wednesday, according to The Nevada Independent.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh, 53, of groping and forcing himself on her at a party in Maryland, when there were both in high school. A number of Senate Republicans say they have personally asked him about the allegations in the past few days, and they all say that Kavanaugh has denied them as strongly privately as he has done publicly.

Members of Ford’s family circulated a public letter of support for her amid reports of death threats that forced her to leave her home. “Her honesty is above reproach and her behavior is highly ethical and respectful of everyone’s point of view,” they wrote.

The Kavanaugh nomination’s lurch into scandal comes at a critical moment for Washington as a whole: The midterm elections are barely a month away, and McConnell is closing in on a fundamental remake of both the Supreme Court and lower level courts.

If his nomination moves forward, Kavanaugh seems increasingly likely to be the first Supreme Court nominee approved along party lines, as undecided Democrats continue to come out against him. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) announced her opposition, which she linked to the nominee’s campaign finance record rather than Ford’s allegation, on Wednesday night.

Kavanaugh currently lacks the votes to be confirmed, with no Democratic support and a trio of GOP senators publicly undecided. But Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) laid out the general GOP frame of mind: Barring extraordinary testimony by Ford or new damaging information about Kavanaugh, he will be on the court.

“If ultimately we have seen sort of these allegations that have been out there in the press but no testimony about it has been presented … based on that information and not just that but everything else we know about Judge Kavanaugh, we'll have to make a decision,” Rubio said on Fox on Thursday morning. “I continue to be supportive of his nomination.”

In theory, Kavanaugh's nomination could proceed through the Judiciary panel to the full Senate as early as next week. And it’s possible McConnell could still meet his goal of confirming Kavanaugh by the time the court opens its fall session on Oct. 1, though a final vote could drift into October if there are new questions raised about him or accommodations made for Ford.

Meanwhile, Republicans heard from an unwelcome voice on the topic: Roy Moore, the disgraced Alabama Republican candidate who lost last year when confronted with sexual misconduct allegations of his own. Moore said the GOP needs to get behind Kavanaugh, though the party did not do the same for him.

“Republicans need to take a stand. I think a lot of them don't,” Moore told One America News.


Rebecca Morin and Ramsen Shamon contributed to this report.