Senate committee head says no need for delay after Christine Blasey Ford urges investigation before she testifies

Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, wants the FBI to investigate her allegation as a “first step” before she testifies to the Senate judiciary committee – a demand Republicans seem unwilling to meet.

In a letter to the committee on Tuesday night, Ford’s attorneys in effect eliminated the possibility that she would appear at a high-stakes public hearing scheduled for Monday that will likely determine the fate of Kavanaugh’s nomination.

The attempt to postpone the hearing injected further confusion into an already chaotic and partisan process, setting the stage for an extraordinary showdown over Donald Trump’s second supreme court nominee just weeks before the midterm elections in November.

Speaking through lawyers, Ford said she wanted to cooperate with the committee and implied that she would be willing to testify about her assault allegation a later date.

“A full investigation by law enforcement officials will ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner, and that the committee is fully informed before conducting any hearing or making any decisions,” her lawyers wrote in a letter.

In response, Republican Chuck Grassley, the committee chair, stressed his position that Ford “deserves to be heard” and that the invitation to testify on Monday “still stands”.

However, he said in this statement: “Dr Ford’s testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events.

“Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for delay.”

Though her lawyers do not explicitly reject the invitation to appear, they raise concerns that she would face an unfair “interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds that she is ‘mistaken’ and ‘mixed up’”. In an appearance on CNN on Tuesday evening, one of Ford’s lawyers, Lisa Banks, sidestepped several direct questions about whether her client would appear at the Monday hearing – though Banks strongly suggested she would not.

“She’s not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on Monday,” Banks said. “This is going to take some time. There shouldn’t be a rush to a hearing here. There’s no reason to do that.”

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Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University in northern California, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her more than 30 years ago, at a high school party when both were teenagers. He has categorically denied the accusations.

The letter comes as Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill clashed fiercely over the terms of Monday’s hearing. Grassley said Kavanaugh and Ford would be the only witnesses, drawing fierce pushback from Democrats who demand an FBI investigation first and believe additional witnesses and experts should be called to testify.

Republicans, already incensed that Kavanaugh’s confirmation has been delayed by allegations that they say were “kept secret until the 11th hour”, insisted that Monday was Ford’s chance to tell her story. They said she had the choice to testify privately or publicly.

It is unclear if Republicans would proceed with the hearing without Ford. But GOP senators on the committee have indicated they would move forward with a vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination by the end of next week regardless of whether she appears.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican committee member from South Carolina, suggested that the demand for an FBI investigation was a partisan stalling tactic.

Its “not about finding the truth, but delaying the process until after the midterm elections,” Graham said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is imperative the Judiciary committee move forward on the Kavanaugh nomination and a committee vote be taken as soon as possible.”

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But Ford’s attorneys say her life has been “turned upside down” since sharing her story in the Washington Post on Sunday. They said she has been inundated by “vicious harassment and even death threats”. And the letter states that Ford was forced to relocate her family from their home for security reasons, her email was hacked and she was being impersonated online.

“While Dr Ford’s life was being turned upside down, you and your staff scheduled a public hearing for her to testify at the same table as Judge Kavanaugh in front of two dozen US senators on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident,” the lawyers wrote. A spokesman for Grassley said the claim was unfounded and never a part of the plan.

Democrats moved to support Ford’s request for an investigation into her allegations. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the committee said she agreed with Ford “100%” and said senators should “honor” Ford’s wishes and grant a delay.

“I agree with her 100% that the rushed process to hold a hearing on Monday has been unfair and is reminiscent of the treatment of Anita Hill,” Feinstein said, referring to the woman who accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his supreme court confirmation hearing in 1991 and inspired a record number of women to run for office the following year.

Feinstein was among those women elected to the Senate in 1992, but she has come under fierce scrutiny from Republicans and the president for not raising the allegation sooner in the process after Ford contacted her in July. But Feinstein said she was respecting Ford’s request for anonymity. Ford reluctantly changed her mind and came forward publicly when the accusation began to circulate.

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Republicans, meanwhile, are working furiously to save Kavanaugh’s confirmation, though the request to delay the hearing appeared to consolidate support among senators who might have been wavering.

On Tuesday, Trump repeatedly defended his nominee, calling him a “great gentleman” and lamenting that his wife and “beautiful young daughters” had to endure a public airing of the accusations.

The president told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that Kavanaugh was “anxious” to testify. “I don’t know about the other party,” he said.