Grassley to Kavanaugh accuser: Reach deal or Senate panel votes Monday

Ford has said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when both were high school students in Maryland, an allegation Kavanaugh has called “completely false”.

Katz said anew that Ford, 51, a psychology professor in California, has received death threats and for safety reasons has relocated her family.

He also repeated a question he asked on Fox News Thursday night in Las Vegas: “The radical left lawyers want the Federal Bureau of Investigation to get involved NOW”.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said: “Asking for that usual sequence to be reversed is very unusual”. “There is zero chance that I would confuse them”.

Brett Kavanaugh’s path to the Supreme Court is looking rocky. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, when he was the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

But for Republicans, particularly in the Senate, it appeared that the only outcome potentially worse than confirming Kavanaugh was not confirming him at all. In a letter of his own, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley declined to postpone, arguing that it was the responsibility of the committee, not the FBI, to investigate the allegation, and that hearing her testimony was a crucial step in that process that should not be delayed.

There is no other way to read McConnell’s comment other than that the Ford allegation doesn’t matter to him, at least not when he’s so close to fulfilling his goal of firming up the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 conservative majority weeks before an election. “I sincerely hope that Dr Ford will accept my invitation to do so, either privately or publicly, on Monday”. But both had previously stated that if Ford’s allegations are true they’d be disqualifying – and their votes are enough to sink Kavanaugh’s bid for the high court.

Mr Kavanaugh was seen at the White House on Thursday.

Why did Feinstein wait so long?

The hearing or hearings, if any, would have enormous stakes for Kavanaugh, Ford and their families. Dr. Ford has asked me to let you know that she appreciates the various options you have suggested.

“She needs to go first, as always, Brett then needs to respond, and then it’s time to take the vote”, Fleischer said. “Fairness and respect for her situation dictate that she should have time to deal with this”. Trump has refused to ask for that.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee works to schedule public hearings on the accusation next week, it’s not yet clear if Ford will testify.

Republicans have resisted all Democratic efforts to slow and perhaps block Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Ford says she wants to appear, but has issued a series of conditions that Conway said Friday sound more like demands.

Committee chairman Chuck Grassley had called for written testimony by this Friday from Prof Ford and scheduled a hearing on the matter for Monday. But nothing makes a memory rush back faster than questioning under oath, after the witness has just heard the words “under penalty of perjury”.

“We got a little hiccup here with the Kavanaugh nomination, we’ll get through this and we’ll get off to the races”, he said in a call with fellow Republicans, the Nevada Independent reports.

Exactly. All this is also taking place amid a thick bramble of political maneuvering.

Or as a Justice Department statement phrased it earlier this week: “The FBI does not make any judgment about the credibility or significance of any allegation”.

The confirmation fight comes just weeks before November 6 congressional elections in which Democrats are seeking to win control of Congress from the Republicans. Ford does not enjoy being in enclosed spaces, her friends told the network. Kavanaugh has indicated he wants to testify about it under oath, while Judge said he does not.