[WaPo]Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her decades ago will testify publicly before the Senate on Monday, setting up a potentially dramatic and politically perilous hearing that could determine the fate of his nomination.
The WaPo article is timestamped 10:53 pm, yet the local Dallas News managed to hold the presses and get this on the front page, delivered at 7 am.
"I have never done anything like what the accuser describes ‐ to her or to anyone," he said in a statement. "Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday."
Yet his denials only prompted further questions. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that Kavanaugh had told him that he was not present at the party in question ‐ which prompted some to wonder how Kavanaugh could make such a claim given that Ford had never specified the exact date or location of the gathering.
The same way I could testify I was not there, without knowing the date or location. ...30-odd years ago.
Unexpectedly Soon after Grassley announced the hearing, Democrats began to protest his decision, insisting instead that the FBI reopen his background check investigation rather than going ahead with a full-fledged public airing of the accusation.
"If there's a hearing before that investigation, the committee is going to be shooting in the dark with questions," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the committee. "As a former prosecutor and state attorney general, there's no way I would put a crime survivor on the stand in front of a jury, let alone the American people, without a full investigation so that I know what the facts are before I start asking questions."
Crime survivor? So the Judge is already guilty?
In a statement Monday, the Justice Department signaled that the FBI doesn't plan on re-opening Kavanaugh's background check for now ‐ noting that it forwarded information about Ford's allegation to the White House, consistent with federal guidelines. |