GOP, Kavanaugh accuser in standoff over her Senate testimony
WASHINGTON — A high-stakes standoff between Republicans and the woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of a three-decade-old sexual attack stretched into the weekend after the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said his panel would vote Monday on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination without a deal on her conditions for testifying.
Nearly two hours after a deadline set by Chairman Chuck Grassley expired Friday night, the Iowa Republican tweeted that he’d “just granted another extension” for Christine Blasey Ford to agree to terms for telling his panel and a captivated nation about her allegation. He provided no details of the extension, and participants from both sides didn’t immediately return messages requesting clarification.
“She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand,” he wrote just before midnight in a comment directed at Kavanaugh.
Earlier, Grassley had rejected proposals by Ford’s attorneys that only senators interrogate Ford and that she appear after Kavanaugh should she appear. Ford lawyer Debra Katz requested another day to decide and said Grassley’s deadline’s “sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family.”