Christine Blasey Ford still wants to negotiate terms of testimony, lawyers say, after meeting Republican deadline to commit

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A lawyer for the woman who has accused supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has said she is ready to testify to the Senate next week – but still wants to negotiate terms of her testimony.

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Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of clinical psychology based in California, has said Kavanaugh attacked her 36 years ago, when they were both teenagers.

On Friday night the Republican chair of the Senate judiciary committee, Chuck Grassley, set a deadline for negotiations to conclude on 2.30pm on Saturday.

Shortly before that deadline, Debra Katz, representing Ford, sent an email to the committee restating her client’s willingness to testify but criticising the conditions the Republicans had set for the testimony.

“We are disappointed by the leaks and bullying that have tainted this process,” Katz wrote, adding that negotiations should continue on Saturday afternoon, “to reach agreement on details”.

Play Video 1:40 Lawyer for Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault accuser speaks out – video

The former justice department inspector general Michael Bromwich is a heavyweight addition to Ford’s legal team, it emerged on Saturday, alongside Katz and Lisa Banks. He also represents the former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired by Donald Trump earlier this year.

A crisis communications expert who represents McCabe, Melissa Schwartz, said on Twitter she was joining “Team Ford”. She also used the hashtag #IBelieveChristine.

Kamala Harris, a Democratic Senate judiciary committee member who questioned Kavanaugh sternly at his confirmation hearing earlier this month, tweeted: “Despite knowing that people would try to intimidate and silence her, Dr Christine Blasey Ford courageously spoke out.”

Harris, who is considered a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, went on to criticize Republicans for “rushing forward” with the hearing.

Grassley set the Saturday deadline on Friday night, in the unusual form of a tweet addressed to the nominee.

“Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed [with] the statement she made last week to testify to the Senate,” Grassley wrote. “She should decide so we can move on. I want to hear her. I hope you understand. It’s not my normal approach to be indecisive.”

The Iowa senator also wrote: “Five times now we [have] granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed [with] her desire stated one [week] ago that she wants to tell Senate her story. Dr Ford if [you] changed [your] mind say so so we can move on I want to hear [your] testimony. Come to us or we to [you.]”

In a remarkable final tweet Grassley, who is 85, wrote that he felt he was “playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and [minority leader Chuck] Schumer is the conductor”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump delivers remarks on his supreme court nominee. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Hours before the new deadline was set to expire, one of Grassley’s top press aides resigned abruptly, after it emerged he was fired from a previous job in part because of sexual harassment allegations.

Garrett Ventry, who had been involved in crafting Republican tactics in response to Ford’s allegations, told NBC News he denied any past “allegations of misconduct”.

The Republican majority on the judiciary committee have been arguing with Ford’s lawyers about the details of Ford’s appearance, such as the day of the hearing and how many cameras will be allowed into the chamber.

Republicans, eager to move rapidly with Kavanaugh’s nomination in an attempt to consolidate conservative control of the supreme court, want the hearing to take place on Monday. Ford wants to appear later in the week.

The previous deadline for resolving the disputes was 10pm on Friday. Katz rejected that as arbitrary and a bullying tactic.

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“The imposition of aggressive and artificial deadlines regarding the date and conditions of any hearing has created tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress on Dr Ford,” she wrote in an email to the committee.

“Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the committee is completely inappropriate.”

With Kavanaugh’s nomination hanging in the balance, and a poll showing he is the least popular supreme court nominee for more than 30 years, Trump waded into the row by impugning Ford’s credibility.

“I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Friday. “I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”

A Washington Post profile of Ford, who is now married with two children, gave an account of how she struggled with the trauma of the alleged assault in 1982, undergoing therapy.

It said she had considered leaving the US when it became clear Kavanaugh would be Trump’s pick for supreme court justice.