Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old professor at Palo Alto University who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, is worried about appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week because “men” have already “predetermined what the outcome will be.”
Following the allegations from Ford, the Senate Judiciary scheduled a public hearing for Monday. Although Kavanaugh, who has denied the allegation, agreed to testify, Ford’s lawyer claimed in a Wednesday letter she would prefer the FBI to investigate the allegation beforehand.
One of Ford’s lawyers said that Ford is open to talking with the committee, but is “not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on Monday.” Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers are pressing the Senate to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination if Ford does not appear early next week.
“I think this is a situation where it’s all these men who are saying, ‘Well, she should come forward and testify,’” Jayapal said in an interview Wednesday with CNN. “But many of them have already said that they have made their determination, and in fact they keep saying, ‘and we want to move quickly to a vote,’ sort of implying that the conclusion here is going to be ‘we’ll to listen to her, but then we’re going to vote for him.’”
“That’s exactly what she fears. She wants this to be real. She’s thrown her life upside down,” Jayapal added. “And, you know, I think Judge Kavanaugh should have the chance as well to put forward his case. I think that is appropriate. But I think that she is the one who is taking tremendous, tremendous risk in coming forward and I think she’s saying, ‘Let me just have a fair shot at this. Don’t put me in front of a bunch of men on the Judiciary Committee who have already predetermined what the outcome should be.’”
All of the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are men.
The letter from Ford’s lawyers Wednesday evening expressed similar sentiments, and noted that Ford would be subjected to “interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds.”
