President Trump said Wednesday that a credible allegation from Christine Blasey Ford at a hearing that will determine the fate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would be 'interesting' and it would force him to take another look at the situation.

Ford has not said whether she will take senators up on their offer to have her appear before the Judiciary Committee on Monday.

'If she shows up that would be wonderful,' Trump told reporters awaiting his departure in Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House. 'If she doesn’t show up, that would be unfortunate.'

The president signaled that he has an open mind about Ford's potential testimony, even though he's irritated that Democrats waited weeks to mention her allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.

'Look, if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that'll be very interesting, and we'll have to make a decision. But I can only say this: he is such an outstanding man. Very hard for me to imagine that anything happened.'

President Trump said Wednesday that a credible allegation from Christine Ford at a hearing that will determine the fate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would be 'interesting' and it would force him to take another look at the situation

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh leaves his home on Wednesday in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He's due to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee again on Monday

Ford has not said whether she will take senators up on their offer to have her appear before the Judiciary Committee on Monday

Trump again said that he feels terribly for Kavanaugh and his family and pounced on Democrats for suppressing the negative information for weeks until it was nearly time to vote on the appointment.

'What I don’t like is that Senator Feinstein had this letter for a period of like three months, from July,' he said. 'Why didn’t the Democrats - they knew about the letter, because she was showing it to Democrats - why did they wait until everything was finished and then bring it up? That doesn’t look good.'

He contended that Judge Kavanaugh 'has been treated very, very tough,' as has his family. 'It's very unfair, I think,' he said.

'I think it's a very unfair thing what's going. So we'll see. But I do think this: They've given it a lot of time,' he said during the impromptu question and answer session. 'They will continue to give it a lot of time. And, really, it's up to the Senate, and I really rely on them. I think they're going to do a good job.'

Ford said through an attorney on Tuesday evening that she wants the FBI to probe her allegation. A letter, addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, did not say whether Ford would turn up next Monday.

'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,' the letter said.

Grassley said in a response letter that he 'sincerely' hopes that Ford will testify in front of senators publicly or privately next Monday.

'In the meantime, my staff would still welcome the opportunity to speak with Dr. Ford at a time and place convenient to her,' he said.

In response to her request that a federal investigation be conducted, Grassley said 'the FBI does not make a credibility assessment of any information it receives with respect to a nominee' and it does not open investigations solely on the basis of congressional recommendations.

'The Constitution assigns the Senate, and only the Senate, with the task of advising the President on his nominee and consenting to the nomination if the circumstances merit,' he said.

Trump refused to take a position on the requested probe on Wednesday morning as he left the White House. He said that it's up to the FBI to decide whether it needs to open an investigation.

'It would seem that the FBI really doesn’t do that. They've investigated about six times before, and it seems that they don’t do that,' he stated.

Trump pounced on Democrats for suppressing the negative information for weeks until it was nearly time to vote on the appointment. 'What I don’t like is that Senator Feinstein had this letter for a period of like three months, from July,' he said on Wednesday

WILL SHE OR WON'T SHE? Ford said through an attorney on Tuesday evening that she wants the FBI to probe her allegation. A letter, addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, did not say whether Ford would turn up at the U.S. Capitol next Monday

The president indicated that he wants the Senate, which has the final say over confirmations, to decide whether or not Kavanaugh is worthy of the bench.

An FBI investigation could take months. Trump is hoping to have the Kavanuagh appointment wrapped up in the next two weeks.

'This is a very tough thing for him and his family. And we want to get it over with. At the same time, we want to give tremendous amounts of time,' he said of the process.

Trump has been careful to be deferential to Ford while standing strongly behind Kavanaugh, having learned the hard lesson in his administration earlier this year with his former staff secretary Rob Porter - accused of beating two former wives - that he'll be harangued if he's dismissive of the his nominees accuser.

'I'd really want to see her. I really would want to see what she has to say. But I want to give it all the time they need,' the president said. 'They've already given it time. They've delayed a major hearing.'

At a news conference on Tuesday, Trump said that the sex attack allegation against Kavanaugh is 'shame' and referred to the judge whose nomination is hanging on by a thread as a 'great gentleman.'

'I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this be honest with you. I feel so badly for him. This is not a man that deserves this,' Trump told journalists.

The president pinned the blame for the 11th-hour chaos on Democrats, who he accused of resisting and obstructing his every move. He said he'd support an FBI prove into Kavanaugh's accuser's charge, except the law enforcement agency has said 'that’s not what they do.'

Earlier in the day, the president said that he had not talked to Kavanaugh, who was at the White House for the second day in a row, since Palo Alto University Professor Christine Ford accused the federal judge of drunkenly attempting to assault her when they were in their teens.

'Specifically I haven’t wanted to, I think its something that he will do very well,' Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office. 'I haven’t wanted to speak with Judge Kavanaugh, because I know somebody will ask what you asked me, which is have you spoken to him. Specifically I thought it would be a good thing not to, he can handle himself better than anybody.'

The president said that Kavanaugh is an 'outstanding person' who he thought was being unfairly maligned by Democrats. They knew about the charge in July and suppressed it until after Kavanaugh had testified.

The president rejected calls from Democrats for the FBI to investigate the matter then on the grounds that the bureau doesn't want to.

'I don’t think the FBI should be involved, because they don’t want to be involved, if they wanted to be, I would certainly do that,' he said. 'As you say, this is not really their thing. The Senators will do a good job.'

President Trump said Tuesday that he feels 'terribly' for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the judge's wife and daughters, because they've been caught in the middle of a Democratic effort to obstruct his presidency

Trump said at a news conference that a sex attack allegation against Kavanaugh is 'shame' as he referred to the judge whose nomination is hanging on by a thread as a 'great gentleman' who does not deserve to have his reputation tarnished

The FBI said in a Monday evening statement that its job is to determine whether appointees are a national security risk. As the charge against Kavanaugh 'does not involve any potential federal crime,' the FBI declined to investigate.

It forwarded a letter it received on Sept. 12 outlining the allegations against Kavanaugh to the White House counsel.

Trump said an East Room press conference on Tuesday afternoon that an FBI probe wouldn't 'bother' him and he believes that Kavanaugh should go through whatever process that senators lay out, 'because there shouldn’t even be a little doubt.'

'I don’t want to play into their hands,' he said. 'Hopefully the woman will come forward, state her case. He will state his case before representatives of the United States Senate, and then they will vote. They will look at his career. They will look at what she had to say from 36 years ago, and we will see what happens.'

Kavanaugh and his accuser are scheduled to go head-to-head in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.

The hearing sets up a potential show down on Capitol Hill, the likes of which have not been seen since Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill testified in 1991 after she accused him of sexual harassment. Thomas was ultimately confirmed after a bitter and bruising battle.

But the Kavanaugh-Ford hearing comes more than 25 years later, amid the #metoo movement, and when women have been energized after the election of Donald Trump as president.

Republicans were under heavy political pressure - including some from members of their own party - to hold a public hearing and they finally caved on the issue Monday evening.

Key votes for the GOP - including Sens. Susan Collins, Jeff Flake and Lisa Murkowski - were calling for a delay after Ford publicly identified herself in an explosive Washington Post interview on Sunday.

Republicans can only afford to lose one of of their own should every Democrat vote no on Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh denies that he was at the high school party in question where Ford said he attempted to rape her as a friend watched when they were both students in suburban Washington D.C. during the 1980s.

The federal judge spoke with Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for about 10 minutes Monday afternoon in a conversation in which Kavanaugh made the denial, a Hatch aide told NBC News.

Hatch says Kavanaugh is 'honest' and 'straightforward,' and he thinks woman who has brought accusation is 'mixed up.'

President Trump has not commented directly Ford's credibility, although he says he's 'totally supportive' of the Supreme Court nominee and cannot 'imagine that anything happened.

Kavanaugh is in the fight for his judicial life as he tries to salvage his Supreme Court nomination. He met with the White House legal team on Monday morning, put out a new statement offering to speak to the judiciary panel again, and was calling key senators ahead of a scheduled Thursday vote on his nomination.

That vote is postponed now in the wake of the Monday hearing. His nomination was seen as losing momentum after several Republican senators said they wanted to hear what Ford had to say.

A hearing on Monday, September 24, at 10 am would still give the judiciary committee and the full Senate time to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination before the Supreme Court starts its new term on Oct. 1.

Hatch past defenses Sen. Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, also originally defended his former chief of staff Rob Porter against allegations of domestic abuse from his former wives. Hatch told DailyMail.com, which broke the story on Porter, that his former aide turned White House staff secretary was 'kind and considerate towards all.' He later apologized for defending him and wrote letters of apology to Porter's former wives. He was also a stark defender of Justice Clarence Thomas during his 1991 confirmation hearing when he was accused by Anita Hill of sexual harassment. In 2010, when it was revealed Thomas' wife called Hill and asked her to apologize to her husband, Hatch agreed that Hill should do so. 'People have got to understand that Justice Thomas and his wife are good honest people who deserve an apology!' he tweeted at the time. Advertisement

Republican senators have long had the goal of getting Kavanaugh, who is expected to move the high court to the right in his replacement of Justice Anthony Kennedy - who was often a swing vote on social issues - in place in time for the new term.

Meanwhile, the White House issued its third statement of the day on the matter on Monday evening, saying Kavanaugh is ready to testify at a moment's notice.

'Judge Kavanaugh looks forward to a hearing where he can clear his name of this false allegation. He stands ready to testify tomorrow if the Senate is ready to hear him,' said White House spokesman and Kavanaugh sherpa Raj Shah.

A key Republican senator warned Kavanaugh if he lied, he's out.

'Obviously, if Judge Kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying,' Sen. Susan Collins said Monday afternoon on Capitol Hill.

Republicans have a 51-seat majority in the Senate. If all Democrats vote no on Kavanaugh they can only lose one senator.

GOP Sen. Jeff Flake had also expressed doubt about his vote, saying he wants to hear from Ford.

'If they push forward without any attempt with hearing what she's had to say, I'm not comfortable voting yes,' Flake told Politico on Sunday.

By Tuesday night, however, Ford's hedging on an appearance had Flake swinging back the other way.

'When Dr. Ford came forward, I said that her voice should be heard and asked the Judiciary Committee to delay its vote on Judge Kavanaugh. It did so. I now implore Dr. Ford to accept the invitation for Monday, in a public or private setting. The committee should hear her voice,' he said.

Democrats have already grilled Kavanaugh once and will likely do so again, particularly honing in on his argument he was not at the party in question.

Hatch told CNN that Kavanaugh told him Ford may be mistaking him for someone else - and that he wasn't even at the party in question.

And a Hatch spokesperson told ABC News of Kavanaugh: 'He told Senator Hatch he was not at a party like the one she describes, and that Dr. Ford, who acknowledged to the Washington Post that she 'did not remember some key details of the incident,' may be mistaking him for someone else.'

Kavanaugh spoke to Judiciary committee staff at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, shortly before next week's hearing was announced.

Democratic staff skipped the call in protest. Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the panel, had objected to a phone call given on public hearing had been scheduled at that time.

Christine Blasey Ford in her Freshman Year at Holton Arms School

'Obviously if Judge Kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying,' Sen. Susan Collins said

Ford, now a 51-year-old college professor at Palo Alto University, accused Kavanaugh of attacking her and attempting to rape her when she was 15 years old and at a teenage party.

She claims Kavanaugh, who was 17 at the time, held her down on a bed in a locked room while he covered her mouth and tried to force himself on her.

Mark Judge, a classmate of Kavanaugh's who Ford says was in the room when the attack happened, strongly denied witnessing at attempted assault.

'It's just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way,' Judge told The Weekly Standard on Friday.

He added that he had never seen boys 'rough-housing' with his female peers from other schools in ways that might have been interpreted negatively: 'I don't remember any of that stuff going on with girls.'

Judge also did not deny being at the party in question to the New York Times, saying he never saw the incident in question.

'I never saw anything like what was described,' Judge said.

The high school buddy of Kavanaugh's said he will not participate in the Senate hearing, because he does not believe his comments are of relavance.

Mark Judge has been identified as Brett Kavanaugh's friend at the incident in question

Christine Blasey (now Ford) in her high school yearbook

Brett Kavanaugh in his high school yearbook

President Trump has said he has full confidence in the U.S. Senate and their procedures to sort the matter out.

'And what they're doing and I think that's probably what they're going to do. They'll go through a process and hear everybody out. I think it's important. I believe they think it's important,' Trump on Monday said.

The president initially said he'd be fine if there was a delay in moving Kavanaugh's confirmation forward, although he has since grown more impatient.

'If it takes a little delay it'll take a little delay. It shouldn't certainly be very much,' he said.

'I'm sure it will work out very well,' he added. 'You're talking about an individual who is as high a quality individual as you will ever see.'

Trump noted: 'I think he's very much on track. If they delay a little bit just to make sure everybody's happy – they want to be happy. I can tell you the Republican senators want to be a hundred percent happy themselves. They're doing it very very professionally.'

He also echoed Republican senators in saying Democrats should have brought this up sooner in the process.

'I wish the Democrats could have done this a lot sooner, because they had this information for many months. And they shouldn't have waited til literally the last days. They should have done it a lot sooner. But with all of that being said we want to go through the process.

He said: 'One thing I will say is that as I understand it, Judge Kavanaugh spent quite a bit of time with Senator Feinstein and it wasn't even brought up at that meeting and she had this information. So you would have thought certainly that she would have brought it up at the meeting – not wait til everything's finished and then have to start a process all over again,' he said.

Asked if Kavanaugh offered to withdraw his nomination, Trump scoffed: 'What a ridiculous question.'

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who will schedule Kavanaugh's vote on the Senate floor, talked about the Senate process rather than the allegations on Monday afternoon.

He slammed Democrats for bringing it 'forward at the last minute in irregular manner' in remarks on the Senate floor.

Kavanaugh had said Monday morning he is willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the wake of Ford's public accusations against him, noting that before she identified herself, 'I had no idea who was making this accusation.'

He again denied the charge against him as he desperately works to save his nomination.

'This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone,' Kavanaugh said in a statement provided by the White House.

He was spotted arriving at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday morning, shortly after 10 am ET, stepping out of black SUV and going in a side entrance, as well as Tuesday.

He was not meeting with Trump, White House spokesman Raj Shah told DailyMail.com.

He was meeting with the White House legal team to prepare for potential interviews or questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, CNN reported.

Kavanaugh said he 'had no idea' who made the allegation until Ford identified herself Sunday in a bombshell Washington Post interview.

'Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday,' he noted.

He added: 'I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.'

President Donald Trump defended Kavanaugh at the White House on Monday: He's 'never even had a little blemish on his record'

Sen. Orrin Hatch is defending Kavanaugh, seen here meeting with him in July in his Senate office shortly after he was nominated to the Supreme Court

Republican leaders in the Senate hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed by Oct. 1, which is the starting date for the Supreme Court's fall turn.

The party is facing additional pressure from a ticking clock: if Kavanaugh's confirmation vote is delayed until after the election, Democrats could be in control of the Senate.

Additionally Kavanaugh is said to have hired Beth Wilkinson, of the law firm Wilkinson Walsh and Eskovitz, to be his attorney,CNN reported.

However, the White House is in a bit of a catch-22 situation: if they go negative on Ford they could alienate two of the key Republican votes in the Senate - female senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.

Additionally, they could fire up women, many of whom were angered and motivated in the wake of Trump's election, which could backfire on the party in the midterms.

After Clarence Thomas was confirmed in 1991 - a process which saw him fight off sexual harassment allegations from Anita Hill - a then-record number of Democratic women were elected to the Senate in 1992, in what was dubbed 'The Year of the Woman.'

Ford had said she was willing to testify before the Senate on her allegation that Kavanaugh tried to rape her in high school, her attorney revealed on Monday morning.

'She's willing to do whatever it takes to get her story forth, yes,' her attorney Debra Katz told NBC's 'Today Show' on Monday morning.

Katz, who made the rounds of the morning news shows to talk about the bombshell allegations against Trump's Supreme Court nominee, told 'CBS This Morning' Ford is 'willing to do what she needs to do.'

'My client will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the Senate Judiciary Committee has the full story and the full set of allegations to allow them to make a fully informed decision,' she said. 'She's willing to do what she needs to do.'

Katz did express concern Ford would be grilled by Republicans if she appears.

'They intend to grill her,' she said on CBS. 'This is not an exercise that is designed to get at the truth. This is an exercise that's designed to terrify somebody that's already been traumatized.'

'Anyone who comes forward as Dr. Ford has deserves to be heard, so I will continue working on a way to hear her out in an appropriate, precedented and respectful manner,' he said in a statement Monday afternoon.

In a interview in The Washington Post on Sunday, Ford detailed an alleged attack on her committed by Kavanaugh when the two were high school students in suburban Maryland.

Ford believes the attack was 'attempted rape,' Katz said on 'The Today Show.'

'She believes if it were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped,' Katz added.

Katz offered more details to CNN.

'The reason she thought he might inadvertently kill her is because he had her hand over his mouth and she was having a hard time breathing, and he was so inebriated, and because of that, his inability to take her clothes off, otherwise he would have raped her,' she told 'New Day.'

Ford described to The Washington Post in detail how, when she was at a teenage party in the 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend followed her upstairs when she went to the bathroom and pushed her into a bedroom.

She detailed how Kavanaugh alleged held her down, tried to rip off her swimsuit, and groped her.

She said she escaped when his friend, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them.

'I thought he might inadvertently kill me,' she told the newspaper.

But Katz said her client was not taking a position on whether or not Kavanaugh should withdraw his nomination to the high court.

'She's not taking a position on this. She thinks these allegations bear on his character and his fitness. And the denials, of course, also bear on his character and fitness,' the lawyer said on 'The Today Show.'

She added: 'This is not a politically-motivated action. She was reluctant to come forward. And she was outed after she had made the decision not to come forward.'

Katz said Ford has been threatened.

'She did receive a lot of very vicious, sexually violent e-mails from total changers. Of course, that's extremely unsettling,' she said.

Katz told CNN of Ford: 'She is already getting a lot of hostile threats and recrimination, and that's, of course, quite disturbing and unfortunate.'

And White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Ford should not be insulted and that her allegations should be heard.

'This woman should not be insulted and she should not be ignored,' Conway said on 'Fox & Friends' Monday morning.

'Allowing this woman to be heard in sworn testimony, allowing Judge Kavanaugh to be heard in sworn testimony about these specific allegations would be added to the very considerable mountain of evidence and considerations that folks will have when they weigh whether or not to vote for judge Kavanaugh to be on the Supreme Court,' she noted.

'So, let me make very clear. I have spoken with the president. I have spoken with Sen. Graham and others. This woman will be heard,' Conway said.

But, she reminded, Kavanaugh has been through multiple background checks.

'Judge Kavanaugh is a man of character and integrity who has been through six FBI vettings, which can I tell you first hand are significant and thorough. He also has been lauded by women from every different aspect of his life. And this is significant. This is very significant for a man of character and integrity to be spoken about so highly by women who maybe didn't vote for President Trump,' Conway added.