The Senate next Monday will hold a public hearing to give a “full airing” to accusations by a woman who said Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh attacked her at a party when the two were in high school.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said both Kavanaugh and his accuser, psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, will testify.
The move will delay a planned Thursday vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination and it comes after Democrats refused to participate in a Monday evening staff call with Kavanaugh and Ford, held separately. Grassley didn’t say when the vote might be rescheduled.
“My staff has reached out to Dr. Ford to hear her account, and they held a follow-up call with Judge Kavanaugh this afternoon,” Grassley said. “Unfortunately, committee Democrats have refused to join us in this effort. However, to provide ample transparency, we will hold a public hearing Monday to give these recent allegations a full airing,”
Republicans seemed to have little choice but to hold a hearing as key lawmakers in their own party were demanding one.
“They need to have both of them under oath,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who is undecided, told reporters Monday when asked about the Judiciary Committee’s handling of the allegation.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also wants Kavanaugh and Ford to testify about the matter, which Kavanaugh repeatedly has denied.
“That’s exactly the outcome i hoped for an advocated for,” Collins said when the hearing was announced. When asked if she believes the accusation put forward by Ford, she said, “I don’t know enough yet and that’s why its so important there be a public hearing so I can assess her credibility.”
Kavanaugh told Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a Monday phone call he was not at the party the accuser described and said it may have been a case of mistaken identity.
Feinstein, in an interview with reporters, suggested there is more information about the matter that has not been revealed but would not say what it is and suggested she doesn’t know what the information might be. Republicans are accusing Feinstein of mishandling the allegation, which she received in July but kept quiet until it leaked to the media late last week.
“I received the information confidentially and was asked to hold it confidentially,” Feinstein told reporters Monday.
Feinstein said she insisted on the public hearing in a morning phone call with Grassley. She and other Democrats sent a letter to the FBI Monday, asking the bureau to re-open a background probe into Kavanaugh.
They want the FBI to handle the investigation, not Congress.
Kimberly Leonard contributed
