Yes, the FBI Actually Has Investigated Allegations Like Christine Blasey Ford’s Before

The Senate has given a woman who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault until Friday to decide if she will testify.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, said today he wants “to hear what she has to say”, “feels awful for…the unfair process” Kavanaugh has been subjected to.

“Donald Trump… of all people… can ask them to”.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of MA posted a video on her Twitter feed of a speech Kavanaugh gave in 2015 in which he recalls his life with three friends at Georgetown Preparatory School.

President Donald Trump spoke about the issue Wednesday morning.

Zero: That’s how many women sit among the panel’s Republicans, who will cross-examine Ford. He attached a screenshot of the meme.

The disturbing accusations threw a wrench into Kavanaugh’s confirmation to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, which initially appeared to be a slam dunk for Republicans.

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill announced on Wednesday night that she will vote “no” on Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from IL, was less tempered in his criticism.

Wednesday on CNN, she described the Senate’s treatment of Ford as “callousness from my colleagues that I am totally appalled by”. Of the shooting, Trump Jr. told Flake, “Govt employees, like you, failed to do their job”. One Slate blogger wrote that Trump Jr.is “unofficially, his father’s liaison to crude, internet-based “alt-right” Trump supporters”. He accused Democrats of being “lousy politicians, but good obstructionists” in their efforts to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation to a lifetime appointment on the country’s highest court.

But so far, they and the White House have, by and large, played it smart.

Democrats complain that Ford was not consulted before the hearing was announced. He continues to mention Kavanaugh’s academic degrees and his intellect.

Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said Professor Blasey Ford’s chance to tell her story would be on Monday, when she could do so publicly or behind closed doors. Now Ms. Ford says she won’t testify until the FBI investigates Judge Kavanaugh first.

Women who signed the letter said they didn’t know about or recall the party Ford described, and they said her account of a “stumbling drunk” Kavanaugh didn’t jibe with their memories of a boy who drank some beer alongside them but never lost control or crossed a line with girls.

Prof Ford and the Senate Judiciary Committee are engaged in a stand-off, and time is running out, the BBC’s Gary O’Donoghue reports from Washington. “He was the kid who always did the right thing”.

But he also dismissed the idea that the FBI should investigate the incident, something Blasey Ford had called for before she testifies.

As it is, some Republicans who had said they needed to hear from the accuser before they would vote, are now getting restless, saying that she’s been invited to testify in any way that’s comfortable for her — in private or public, with senators or staff-and that she should do so.