Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that he will not postpone Thursday’s hearing with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
The announcement came in response to a request from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who urged on Sunday for the hearing to be postponed in light of new allegations against Kavanaugh from Deborah Ramirez, which she requested be referred to the FBI.
But Grassley rejected Feinstein’s request, and said there was no reason to postpone the hearing again.
“I am not going to silence Dr. Ford after I promised and assured her that I would provide her a safe, comfortable, and dignified opportunity to testify,” Grassley said in the letter.
“Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have, over the last week, requested the opportunity to testify to Congress regarding Dr. Ford’s allegations,” said Grassley. “After protracted negotiations with Dr. Ford’s attorneys, during which we postponed the hearing we had originally scheduled, Dr. Ford’s attorneys agreed to a hearing this Thursday. There is no reason to delay the hearing any further.”
Ford alleges that Kavanaugh forced himself onto her at a high school party in the 1980s, and Ramirez accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a college party in the 1980s at Yale University when they were students.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and said in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum that he was seeking a “fair process where I can be heard.”
“Besides being unfair to Dr. Ford, whose attorneys asked for a public hearing one week ago, delaying the hearing further would be unfair to Judge Kavanaugh and his family,” Grassley added in his letter. “He has asked the Committee repeatedly for the chance to testify as soon as possible. He has categorically denied the allegations that have been made public. He did this in a transcribed interview with several Senate investigators, under penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment for lying. We can no longer stand in the way of him presenting his testimony before the Committee.”
Grassley also announced Tuesday that a potential vote for Kavanaugh will take place, but is contingent on what information Thursday’s hearing renders.
“After hrg Dr Ford & Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony — if we’re ready to vote, we will vote,” Grassley tweeted. “If we aren’t ready, we won’t.”
