Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is working to arrange bipartisan staff calls with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the woman accusing him of sexual misconduct.
But Grassley, R-Iowa, plans to proceed with a committee vote to advance Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which is due to take place Thursday, despite Christine Blasey Ford publicly coming forward with her claim, according to his office.
“Give the late addendum to the background file and revelations of Dr. Ford’s identity, Chairman Grassley is actively working to set up such follow-up calls with Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote,” Grassley’s staffers wrote in a statement to Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim.
NEWS — Grassley and Feinstein jointly working on scheduling follow up calls with both Kavanaugh and Ford, per spox pic.twitter.com/71PYAU9OqQ
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 16, 2018
Grassley’s office did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., joined Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Sunday in demanding a probe into Ford’s allegation rather than proceeding with the congressional process that would lead to Kavanaugh’s appointment to the country’s highest court.
“There’s a lot of information we don’t know and the FBI should have the time it needs to investigate this new material,” Feinstein said. “Staff calls aren’t the appropriate way to handle this.”
[Read more: Christine Ford’s letter detailing sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh leaked to media]
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., key Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have expressed openness to listening to Ford’s testimony. Flake and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who doesn’t sit on the panel, additionally said a vote should not occur before more is heard about her accusation.
The effort to organize staff calls follows Ford sending a confidential letter sent to her congresswoman, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in July, in which she accuses Kavanaugh of trying to force himself onto her at a Maryland high school party in the 1980s when she was 15 and he was 17.
Ford, now a 51-year-old California-based professor, told the Washington Post on the record Sunday that during the gathering Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her on her back in a bedroom, groped her over her clothes, and attempted to muffle her cries for help with his hand.
Kavanaugh “categorically and unequivocally” denies the allegation. The White House is standing by Kavanaugh.
According to parliamentary procedure, however, Senate leadership does not need the Republican majority on the committee to report a favorable outcome for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be sent to the Senate floor for consideration.
