The lawyers wrote that Ford, who is now a college professor in California, wants to co-operate with the committee. Their sworn testimony, certain to be conflicting and emotive, will offer a campaign season test of the political potency of a #MeToo movement that has already toppled prominent men from entertainment, government and journalism.
Advertisement
Officials have said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is not looking into the matter. James Lankford, R-Okla. “It is a political dialogue on a very, very painful subject for a lot of people”. The GOP goal is to have Kavanaugh confirmed by October 1, the start of the next Supreme Court term.
President Trump said Wednesday that it was hard to believe the sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh was true.
Democrats complain that Ford was not consulted before the hearing was announced.
GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee – among a handful of Republicans who insisted on hearing from Ford before voting – said it would be a “shame” if Ford didn’t show up to testify. As one of California’s best-known politicians and one with deep pockets, Feinstein has kept de Leon’s challenge at bay even as he’s sought to paint her as too deferential to President Donald Trump. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations and Ford came forward publicly over the weekend.
Kavanaugh has been accused by 51-year-old Christine Ford of attempted assault at a house party in the 1980s, when the pair were at high school, an accusation Kavanaugh denies.
“We did drink beer, but I never saw him out of control drunk”, Kane said.
Hume also said that there have been many “bad mistakes” made in the media’s coverage of the allegations. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters Monday that the accuser’s allegations should be heard by the Senate. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley had invited the woman-Dr. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary panel from Louisiana. Democrats are now favoured to take the House while becoming increasingly confident of adding the two Senate seats that would give them control of that chamber.
The administration is gearing up for a counteroffensive, a White House official said.
Ford has alleged that Kavanaugh pinned her down on the bed in an upstairs room while they were both attending a party in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Murkowski said Ford’s story “must be taken seriously”. Neither Collins nor Murkowski faces re-election this fall.
“Nothing the Federal Bureau of Investigation or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay”, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said in a statement. “Only then should the chairman set a hearing date”, Feinstein said.
Another Democrat on the panel, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen.
She will say anything if it is in the noble cause of advancing herself. He has no recollection of it, his counsel said in a statement, and he defended Kavanaugh’s integrity.
“Not only do women like Dr. Ford, who bravely comes forward, need to be heard, but they need to be believed”.
Tuesday evening, an attorney for Ford, Lisa Banks, indicated that her client did not plan to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing scheduled for Monday until there had been an independent investigation to evaluate her claims and Kavanaugh’s denial.
Advertisement
“The whole idea of this is to postpone the vote as long as possible”, he said. Some, including Grassley, have questioned the fairness of making Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination for an assault that, if true, he would have committed at 17 (the other side contends that if the alleged assault occurred, no matter when it was, Kavanaugh shouldn’t be appointed to a potentially lifetime position). Clinton says she thinks Republicans are trying to put Ford “in the dock and try to rush this through”.
