Senate

Kavanaugh accuser seeks additional day to decide on testimony

by Jordain Carney - 09/21/18 9:51 PM ET

Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, are asking the Senate Judiciary Committee for an additional day to make a decision about testifying.

Debra Katz, a lawyer for Ford, sent a letter to Judiciary Committee staff on Friday night calling the 10 p.m. deadline set by Chairman Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) staff “arbitrary” and an “aggressive and artificial” deadline.

“Its sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family. She has already been forced out of her home and continues to be subjected to harassment, hate mail, and death threats,” Katz wrote.

“Our modest request is that she be given an additional day to make her decision,” she continued.

{mosads}Spokesmen for Grassley didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the email.

But Grassley tweeted late Friday night that the committee had already given Ford five extensions to figure out if she wants to testify and urged her to tell them if she had changed her mind about being willing to publicly testify.

“Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u,” Grassley tweeted.

Five times now we hv granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w her desire stated one wk ago that she wants to tell senate her story Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u

— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 21, 2018

Grassley’s staff had given Ford until 10 p.m. on Friday to reach an agreement on their offer for a public hearing next Wednesday or they would move forward with a committee vote Monday on Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“I’m extending the deadline for response yet again to 10 o’clock this evening. I’m providing a notice of a vote to occur Monday in the event that Dr. Ford’s attorneys don’t respond or Dr. Ford decides not to testify,” Grassley said earlier Friday.

He added that if they couldn’t get a deal on “a reasonable resolution as I’ve been seeking all week, then I will postpone the committee vote to accommodate her testimony. We cannot continue to delay.”

Lawyers for Ford and staff for Grassley have been locked in negotiations over the past day.

Ford’s lawyers initially proposed a public hearing next Thursday; asked the committee to subpoena Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh classmate and potential witness; and that Kavanaugh testify first.

Judiciary Committee staff responded on Friday with the offer of a Wednesday hearing, that Kavanaugh testify second and rejected her request to subpoena Judge.

Committee staff did agree to limit the number of cameras and to keep Kavanaugh and Ford out of the same room.

But Katz said they were “stunned” to see Grassley move forward with a committee vote while negotiations were ongoing.

“You rejected a number of the proposals that are important to Dr. Ford to ensure that the process would be a fair one, including subpoenaing Mark Judge to testify. Instead, you spent much of your email making points that distorted the requests we had made and the sequence of events,” Katz said.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed during a high school party in the early 1980s, trying to remove her clothing and covering her mouth when she tried to protest. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.

Tags Chuck Grassley