Collins wants Kavanaugh, accuser to testify
GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, should both testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh should both testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee,” Collins said in a tweet on Monday.
{mosads}The remarks from Collins are important because she may be the key to Kavanaugh’s confirmation in a 51-49 Senate held by Republicans.
Her call for hearings would make them even more difficult to avoid if Kavanaugh’s nomination proceeds.
A growing number of Republican senators have said that they want to hear from Ford, whose accusations against Kavanaugh were detailed publicly for the first time on Sunday in a story published by The Washington Post.
Ford says Kavanaugh held her down on a bed and attempted to take her clothes off during a party when both were high school students in the 1980s.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegation.
Asked about delaying the hearing on Sunday night, she told CNN that she would discuss the issue with her colleagues.
Collins is one of a handful of moderate senators, on both sides of the aisle, who have yet to say how they will vote on Kavanaugh. Republicans can only afford to lose one GOP senator before they would need to lean on Democrats to help get Kavanaugh confirmed.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also remains undecided. And GOP Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.), both of whom are retiring after this Congress, have called on senators to talk to Ford before moving forward with a committee vote.
Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) were considered potential swing votes on Kavanaugh before the sexual misconduct allegation first surfaced last week.
But they are under new pressure to call on Kavanaugh’s vote to be delayed in the wake of Ford’s Washington Post interview.
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