Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford are still wrangling over critical details. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Kavanaugh Confirmation Senate Judiciary Committee tentatively agrees to Thursday hearing with Kavanaugh accuser Details remain, but Christine Blasey Ford has accepted a deal to testify on her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school.

The Senate Judiciary Committee tentatively agreed to a hearing on Thursday with Christine Blasey Ford regarding her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school, according to a person briefed on a call between the panel and her lawyers on Saturday night.

Representatives of the committee will speak to Ford's lawyers on Sunday to continue hammering out details, the person said. The call on Saturday night lasted about 15 minutes.


Senate Republicans had preferred a Wednesday hearing but indicated privately they would be more flexible on when the hearing occurs than their public stance suggested.

The news of the agreement marked the second major breakthrough of the day between the Senate and Ford, who had exchanged several offers unsuccessfully in the past two days as they hashed out the makings of the most important congressional hearing in years. Kavanaugh's confirmation hinges on his and Ford's performance regarding an accusation that threatens to scuttle the GOP's plan to confirm a new high court justice before the midterm elections.

“Dr. Ford accepts the Committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week,” wrote Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, Ford’s attorneys, on Saturday afternoon. “We are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details.”

Ford's legal team also now includes Michael Bromwich, according to a spokeswoman for his firm, The Bromwich Group. He is a former federal prosecutor and inspector general for the Department of Justice, and he is also working on the legal team for Andrew McCabe, a former deputy director of the FBI who has feuded with President Donald Trump. Bromwich resigned from his law firm, which is separate from the Bromwich Group, in order to represent Ford in private practice.

The two parties are still far apart on what day the hearing will take place as well as other details, and Republicans immediately questioned whether the acceptance from Ford and her attorneys was merely designed to orchestrate further hindrances to Kavanaugh's confirmation.

"Our view of this latest response from Ford through her attorney is still ambiguous. She says she's willing to testify but she says she still wants negotiations," a senior White House official said. "Until there's actually an agreement, there isn't. It could be a another delay tactic."

But one undecided Republican whose vote on Kavanaugh will prove pivotal, Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake of Arizona, welcomed the acceptance from Ford's attorneys as a sign of "progress" toward her testimony. "This is good," the Arizonan tweeted Saturday.

Conservatives on Twitter speculated that Flake would vote present on Kavanaugh’s nomination in the Judiciary Committee, which would prevent the nominee from getting a favorable recommendation. While Flake has not yet made up his mind, he said on Saturday night that he will not vote present: “Not gonna happen,” he told POLITICO.

On Saturday, the committee received new information from a woman who Senate GOP investigators believed may have been at the party in which Ford claimed she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh. In an email to the ccommittee on Saturday night, Leland Keyser said she does not know Kavanaugh and does not remember being at a party with him. Two other people contacted by investigators similarly said they had no information for the committee: Mark Judge said he has "no memory" of the party, and Patrick J. Smyth said he has "no knowledge" of the party.

Late Saturday, the White House released a statement pointing to the denials, saying, "all four of these individuals [including Kavanaugh] have provided statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee denying any knowledge of the incident or even having attended such a party.” Katz dismissed the significance of Keyser's email because Ford "did not share her story publicly or with anyone for years following the incident with Judge Kavanaugh."

But despite the lack of other witnesses, Democrats praised Ford's acceptance as a huge step toward telling her story publicly. They decried "bullying" tactics used by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday, when he said the panel would vote Monday if it hadn't heard back from Ford's attorneys. Grassley later extended the deadline for Ford's response to Saturday afternoon.

“Courageously, Dr. Ford will tell her story in the face of an impossible choice and vile bullying by Republican leadership. I will support her steadfast bravery against the arbitrary, unfair, irrational constraints set by Chairman Grassley," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. "I remain deeply disturbed by the conduct of my colleagues over the last week."

Kavanaugh is not advocating for certain conditions, a Republican senator said. But Grassley and Ford's attorneys are still wrangling over critical details, and Grassley's office had yet to comment as of Saturday evening.

On Friday, the two parties agreed to limit the number of cameras in the hearing room, ensure that Ford and Kavanaugh are not in the same room together, and offer Ford breaks in her testimony and security from the U.S. Capitol Police. Ford has faced death threats since coming forward with her accusation that Kavanaugh groped and forced himself on her more than 30 years ago.

But they are far apart on a number of critical areas. Republicans want Kavanaugh to testify after Ford, and they want to retain the option of using female lawyers to ask questions. They have dismissed Ford's calls to subpoena Mark Judge, who Ford has said was in the room at the time of the alleged assault. Ford's attorneys have asked that Kavanaugh testify first and do not want Ford to be questioned by anyone other than senators.

A handful of the Senate's 51 Republicans are holding out on Kavanaugh, including Flake, and the nominee has no Democratic support. Despite Kavanaugh's beleagured status, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) confidently predicted on Friday that Kavanaugh will soon be a Supreme Court justice.

But as Ford's potential testimony draws near, her legal team is growing in size and stature. Bromwich began representing her after resigning from Robbins Russell, the law firm where he worked separately from his eponymous firm, which had raised “objections” to his decision to represent Ford, he said in his departure note.

“My role will likely require me to appear publicly on Dr. Ford’s behalf, and the Senate is being advised of my involvement this afternoon. Because objections have been raised within the partnership to my doing so while employed by the firm, I am resigning from the firm, effective immediately,” Bromwich wrote in his departure note from Robbins Russell, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO.

Republicans defending Kavanaugh have experienced a brutal 48 hours: Prominent conservative legal activist Ed Whelan posted an alternate theory of Ford's account that blew up in his face; the GOP cringed Friday as Trump attacked Ford's credibility; and, on Saturday, an aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee resigned over questions of his own conduct in the past.