Christine Blasey Ford is asking to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Thursday, according to new reports.
Ford was invited earlier this week to testify about her allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Monday, but her legal counsel is negotiating with the panel over the timing and other conditions.
Debra Katz and Lisa Banks spoke with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on the phone Thursday after indicating their client, who claims Kavanaugh drunkenly groped her in the 1980s when they pair were at Maryland high schools, was “prepared to testify next week.” The proposed Thursday date next week has not been confirmed, according to multiple reports.
Katz and Banks told the committee during the conference call that Ford, now a California-based professor, did not want to be questioned by an outside lawyer, the Washington Post, Fox News, and Politico reported.
Ford additionally does not want Kavanaugh in the room when she appears before the panel and she would prefer for the federal appeals court judge to testify first, according to reports.
Katz and Banks also reportedly raised the prospect of subpoenaing potential witnesses such as Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh’s from Georgetown Prep who was named in the Washington Post story over the weekend in which Ford’s identity was revealed.
Kavanaugh, who has “categorically and unequivocally” denied forcing himself on Ford, wrote to the committee Thursday saying he would be ready Monday, the date originally proposed, to “clear his name.”
GOP lawmakers on the panel were reportedly considering hiring a female litigator to interview both Ford and Kavanaugh to bring a fresh prospective to his confirmation process, while stymieing any criticism related to Ford facing a hearing with an all-male Republican contingent on the committee.
Staffers for Grassley said Thursday he would relay Ford’s parameters for her testimony to his colleagues.
“He remains committed to providing a fair forum for both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh,” a Grassley aide wrote in a statement.
