Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. (Photo: Screen capture)

(CNSNews.com) - In response to a letter from Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) -- "It is time to put politics aside," she wrote! -- Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley on Tuesday refused her request to postpone Thursday's scheduled appearance by Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

"I respectfully decline your request," Grassley wrote to Feinstein.

I am not going to silence Dr. Ford after I promised and assured her that I would provide her a safe, comfortable, and dignified opportunity to testify. Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have, over the last week, requested the opportunity to testify to Congress regarding Dr. Ford's allegations. After protracted negotiations with Dr. Ford's attorneys, during which we postponed the hearing we had originally scheduled, Dr. Ford's attorneys agreed to a hearing this Thursday. There is no reason to delay the hearing any further.

Grassley said another postponement would be unfair to both Ford and especially to Kavanaugh and his family. "He has asked the Committee repeatedly for the chance to testify as soon as possible."

Grassley noted that both Ford and Kavanaugh have faced threats and intimidation: "We must take his family's safety, and the trauma this is causing to his young daughters, into account, no less than we must account for the threats and intimidation suffered by Dr. Ford and her family."

Feinstein also asked Grassley to request an FBI investigation into Deborah Ramirez's hazy allegations of sexual misconduct, but Grassley rejected that, too.

"I am unclear why Ms. Ramirez's claims should have any bearing on Dr. Ford's testimony," Grassley wrote. "In fact, the obvious connection between the two claims is that Senate Democrats hid both allegations of misconduct from the committee and the public. Indeed, it was reportedly Senate Democratic staff who conveyed the allegations to the media rather than alert Republican staff to conduct a bipartisan investigation."

Grassley noted that Kavanaugh has gone through six FBI background checks, which covered his time at Yale, and the FBI uncovered none of the misconduct alleged by Ramirez. Not only that, but Ramirez herself, according to The New Yorker article, could not confirm with other eyewitnesses that Kavanaugh did what she says he did. And in separate pursuit of a story, the New York Times could not find any corroborating, first-hand witnesses.

"If Ms. Ramirez submits testimony and evidence to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Committee investigators have requested, we can decide how to proceed," Grassley wrote to Feinstein. "But, at this time, Democratic staff has not shared any such evidence it has with Republican staff. And, because Ms. Ramirez's allegations are unrelated to Dr. Ford's, there is no reason at all to delay the hearing on Thursday in light of these new allegations."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Tuesday he believes Kavanaugh will be confirmed: "We're going to move forward. I'm confident we're going to win. I'm confident this -- he will be confirmed in the very near future," McConnell told a news conference.

Asked if he believes "the women," McConnell said, "I think we ought to take everyone seriously. We're going to have the hearing on Thursday, that's to give us enough evidence of -- a way to evaluate the two people who could be the only people who apparently know anything about this, listen to the evidence, evaluate the situation and then vote."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), speaking at a Democrat news conference, said McConnell should apologize for calling Dr. Ford's allegations a "smear job."

Then Schumer essentially called Kavanaugh a liar:



"In the past, Judge Kavanaugh, in his hearings, has not told the whole truth and nothing but," Schumer said. "Whether it's about Manny Miranda, whether about Judges Pryor and Pickering, or about the torture investigation, the documents are at odds with what Judge Kavanaugh said. Credibility, whether you -- whether you believe Dr. Ford or not -- and I do -- credibility of Judge Kavanaugh will be a major issue here. You don't want somebody on the Supreme Court who doesn't have full, 100 percent credibility with all of the American people, and so that is a very important issue here."

President Trump, in a Tuesday night tweet, accused Democrats of "playing a high level CON GAME in their vicious effort to destroy a fine person. It is called the politics of destruction. Behind the scene the Dems are laughing. Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and his family!" Trump wrote.

And finally, attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford reportedly have obtained sworn statements from four witnesses -- one of them Ford's husband -- who say Ford told them of her alleged sexual assault at the hands of Kavanaugh at various times between 2013 and 2018. Those statements will be part of her testimony on Thursday.

In support of Kavanaugh, three other people who are alleged to have been at the alleged house party in the early 1980s have also produced sworn statements saying it never happened.

