Senate Republicans have hired a female prosecutor to ask questions Thursday of the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, a move that prompted Democrats to complain that they don’t know who the prosecutor is.
“We don’t know who the prosecutor is, if that is what she is,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. He said Republicans did tell Democrats that someone was hired, but that’s it, and some reports said Republicans wanted to keep her anonymous to ensure her safety.
[Related: Phoenix sex crimes prosecutor hired to question Kavanaugh accuser]
Republicans have been indicating for the past few days that they would hire an outsider to ask questions of Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, and possibly Kavanaugh. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, confirmed the plan Tuesday, after saying Monday that Republicans were likely to find an outsider to help.
“We are leaning toward having a staff lawyer, an outside lawyer, do it from our side for continuity, rather than have 11 people ask questions for five minutes each,” he said Monday.
Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee tweeted that Republicans have hired an “expert sex crimes prosecutor” as investigative staff counsel for the hearing.
Chairman Grassley doesn’t want another media/political circus like Dems displayed during Judge Kavanaugh’s initial hearing. The best way to do that is to de-politicize the process. The majority has hired an expert sex crimes prosecutor as investigative staff counsel for Thursday.
— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) September 25, 2018
Democrats said they’ve been left on the dark, not only on who the GOP hired, but other aspects of how the hearing will work.
“And we don’t know the procedure in the committee, what the sequencing will be,” Durbin said. “We don’t know how long the questioning period is. It’s all a mystery. Nothing.”
The Judiciary Committee GOP has revealed few details about the Thursday hearing and appears to be still in the process of planning the event. Durbin said a dispute over the table and number of chairs that will be in the room has been resolved, but nothing else.
“Obviously, I want to be prepared for the hearing,” Durbin said. “At this point, I don’t know if I will be asking questions, or if they will be three minutes, five minutes, or ten. Makes a big difference.”
[Trump: Allegations against Brett Kavanaugh a ‘con game’ played by Democrats]
