Kavanaugh’s accuser agrees to testify

WASHINGTON - Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, her attorneys said in a letter Saturday.

Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University, still hopes that the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet several conditions. The letter, which says the attorneys are 'disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process,” asked for further negotiations for conditions at the expected hearing.

The back and forth about when Ford would speak with the committee, and under what conditions, has dragged on for several days, blocking what had appeared a likely party-line vote for the Supreme Court nominee.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee chairman, had set a 5 p.m. Friday deadline for Ford to make a decision, but then changed that to 10 p.m. He said that if she did not reply, the committee would go ahead with a hearing Monday without her and vote on Kavanaugh's nomination.

Ford's attorneys asked late Friday evening for an extra day to consult with their client, saying the deadline was 'aggressive and artificial.”

Grassley said on Twitter Friday evening that he would give Ford more time to decide, but signaled that his patience was running thin.

Grassley agreed to Ford's requests to allow just one TV camera in the hearing room and to limit news media access, to provide breaks during the testimony, and to keep Kavanaugh out of the room while Ford testifies.

But he balked at her request that Kavanaugh testify first, that only senators - and not committee attorneys - ask questions, and that subpoenas be issued to compel other potential witnesses to testify.

Democrats on the committee have joined Ford in pushing for those stipulations, saying that senators have a responsibility to ask the questions.

Republicans hope to avoid a repeat of the divisive confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991, and the political awkwardness optics of a panel of men questioning a female victim of sexual misconduct. They have pushed for staff or outside counsel to ask Ford and Kavanaugh questions.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, accused Republicans of bullying Ford and said there were unpleasant echoes of how Thomas' accuser, Anita Hill, was treated before Thomas was confirmed.

'It's clear that Republicans have learned nothing over the last 27 years,” Feinstein said. 'Bullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee - particularly at a time when she's receiving death threats - is an extreme abuse of power.”

Ford wrote Feinstein a letter in July, seeking confidentiality. After Ford's name and her allegations became public last weekend, Feinstein was put on the defensive for not releasing her information before Kavanaugh had undergone his confirmation hearings.

Meanwhile, a top aide leading the Republican response on the Judiciary Committee resigned late Friday over a separate allegation of sexual harassment.

NBC News reported Saturday that Garrett Ventry quit after the network questioned a claim made against him when he was employed by the North Carolina General Assembly. Ventry has denied any wrongdoing.