GOP plans Senate hearing next week for Kavanaugh, accuser

WASHINGTON — Judge Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who has come forward with a claim that he sexually assaulted her three decades ago are scheduled to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, postponed a committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court set for this week and scheduled the Monday hearing after Democratic and Republican lawmakers urged a pause to examine the allegations.

Grassley said the woman who came forward, Christine Blasey Ford, deserved the right to a hearing, and Kavanaugh was entitled to address the allegations, which he has denied.

“To provide ample transparency, we will hold a public hearing Monday to give these recent allegations a full airing,” Grassley said in a statement.

The 10 Democratic lawmakers on the committee had signed a letter urging Grassley to postpone the Thursday vote and have the FBI investigate the claim.

At least one Republican on the panel, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, also said the accusations should be investigated and the committee vote delayed until lawmakers hear directly from Ford.

President Donald Trump, who nominated Kavanaugh in July to the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, said Monday that he supported “a full process” that would allow the public to “hear everybody out.”

“If it takes a little delay, it’ll take a little delay. It certainly shouldn’t be very much,” Trump said.

Kavanaugh, Ford welcome hearing

Later Monday, the White House released a statement in which Kavanaugh again denied the accusation and welcomed a hearing.

“Judge Kavanaugh looks forward to a hearing where he can clear his name of this false allegation,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement. “He stands ready to testify tomorrow if the Senate is ready to hear him.”

Ford, a college professor in California, also is prepared to testify and cooperate with the Senate, her lawyer, Debra Katz, told NBC’s “Today.”

Ford told the Washington Post that a drunken Kavanaugh tried to assault her during a party in the 1980s, when both were teenagers in the Maryland suburbs of the District of Columbia. She said Kavanaugh tried to take her clothes off before she escaped.

Kavanaugh strongly denied the accusation and said the encounter described by Ford never occurred.

In a statement released by the White House, Kavanaugh said: “This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or anyone.”

Before Grassley’s announcement, top Republicans had shown no interest in a theatrical spectacle that would thrust Kavanaugh and Ford before television cameras with each offering public — and no doubt conflicting — versions of what did or didn’t happen at a high school party in the early 1980s.

Instead, Grassley had said he’d seek telephone interviews with Kavanaugh and Ford. Democrats rejected that plan, saying the seriousness of the charges merited a full FBI investigation.

Republicans hold an 11-10 majority on the Judiciary Committee, and a narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate, where two moderate lawmakers, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have not disclosed whether they support the nominee.

Collins said on social media that Ford and Kavanaugh should testify before the committee.

Another key Republican, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, also said he wanted the committee to hear Ford’s testimony before a vote is held on the nomination.

Nevada senators’ positions

Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican who faces a tough re-election battle, announced his support for Kavanaugh shortly after he was nominated.

On Monday, Heller said “it is important for Dr. Ford to share her information with the Judiciary Committee. Given the gravity of this appointment and this accusation, I would hope that all senators, regardless of party, will work with Chairman Grassley in good faith.”

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., has not disclosed how she might vote on the nomination, but she said Ford has courageously come forward and her allegation “must be taken seriously and must be investigated by the FBI and the Senate.”

Cortez Masto joined other Democrats in asking that the Thursday vote be postponed to give Ford the opportunity to testify.

Neither Nevada senator sits on the Judiciary Committee.

Kavanaugh, 53, is an appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He was nominated to serve on the appeals court by President George W. Bush and confirmed 12 years ago by the Senate following an FBI background check.

The Judiciary Committee held a four-day hearing on his nomination earlier this month, and reviewed a background check conducted by the FBI.

But the assault accusation became known following the hearing when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the committee, submitted the information to the panel and the FBI.

Republicans charged that Feinstein’s motivation for revealing the Ford accusation was purely political, and noted that she was aware of the allegation in July, a month before the hearing.

“One thing I will say is that as I understand it, Judge Kavanaugh spent quite a bit of time with Sen. Feinstein and it wasn’t even brought up at that meeting and she had this information,” Trump told reporters.“So you would have thought certainly that she would have brought it up at the meeting – not wait ‘til everything’s finished and then have to start a process all over again.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said previously he wanted a full Senate vote on the confirmation in September so that Kavanaugh could be on the bench when the Supreme Court begins its fall session in October.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.

Review-Journal staff writer Debra J. Saunders contributed to this report.