Lindsey Graham wants to hear from woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault
South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham says he is willing to hear from the woman accusing President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of attempted sexual assault. Meanwhile, the accuser says she is willing to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a statement on Sunday, U.S. Sen. Graham, the Seneca Republican who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, said California psychologist Christine Blasey Ford — a former high school acquaintance of Kavanaugh, who went public with her accusations Sunday — would be welcome to give evidence to the committee vetting Kavanaugh’s nomination before its final vote.
“(I)f Ms. Ford wishes to provide information to the committee, I would gladly listen to what she has to say and compare that against all other information we have received about Judge Kavanaugh,” Graham said.
Ford’s attorney told NBC’s “Today Show” Monday she would be willing to testify about the allegations, which came out a week after U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., referred a then-anonymous letter to the FBI for investigation.
Ford’s testimony could delay the process of confirming Trump’s second Supreme Court pick. With just weeks to go before voters head to the polls for the midterm elections, Graham nodded to the sensitive timing in his statement Sunday.
“If the committee is to hear from Ms. Ford it should be done immediately so the process can continue as scheduled,” Graham said.
Graham isn’t alone.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told a Milwaukee radio station Monday the Judiciary Committee should hear from Ford before it votes. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway also told reporters Monday that Ford “should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.”
Multiple other senators have called on the committee to hear from Ford before any final vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. On Monday, Trump said he would support a delay in the vote to allow Ford to be heard.
Ford wrote a letter to Feinstein in July when Kavanaugh’s nomination was announced, describing an attack that occurred at a party when they were in high school in Maryland.
While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it, according to an account in the Washington Post.
When she tried to scream, Ford said, Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth. She said she managed to escape when Kavanaugh’s friend jumped on top of them, sending all three tumbling. She said she ran from the room, briefly locked herself in a bathroom and then fled the house.
Graham said he shared the concerns raised by the GOP-controlled Judiciary Committee, which said in its own statement that it is “disturbing” the allegations “would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July.”
“If ranking member Feinstein and other committee Democrats took this claim seriously, they should have brought it to the full committee’s attention much earlier,” the committee statement reads. “Instead, they said nothing during two joint phone calls with the nominee in August, four days of lengthy public hearings, a closed session for all committee members with the nominee where sensitive topics can be discussed and in more than 1,300 written questions.”
Senate Republicans point to Kavanaugh previously passing an FBI vetting process, and that 65 women had spoken to the committee about “his impeccable character and respect for others, especially women.”
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
The White House released a new statement Monday from the nominee in which he calls the claim “completely false.” Kavanaugh says he never did what the accuser describes “to her or anyone.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2018 at 10:54 AM.