FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., September 20, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Last updated on September 24th, 2018 at 06:38 am
By Doina Chiacu and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans threatened to go ahead with a Senate panel vote on President Donald Trump‘s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Monday unless a deal could be reached on Friday with the woman accusing him of sexual assault on how and when she will testify.
The Senate Judiciary Committee had delayed a vote on Kavanaugh‘s confirmation after California professor Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations emerged last week, and her lawyers and committee staff were negotiating how and when she will testify.
But the committee’s chairman, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, said the panel would hold a vote on Kavanaugh‘s confirmation on Monday unless a deal was reached with Ford’s lawyers by 10 p.m. EDT on Friday.
“I’m extending the deadline for response yet again to 10 o’clock this evening. I’m providing a notice of a vote to occur Monday in the event that Dr. Ford’s attorneys don’t respond or Dr. Ford decides not to testify,” Grassley said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday, Trump sought to cast doubt on Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when both were high school students in Maryland.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegation and pledged to testify at Monday’s hearing.
The Republican-controlled Senate judiciary panel has struggled on how to proceed with Kavanaugh‘s nomination. Democrats have demanded more time for scrutiny, and Republicans want to move ahead quickly with a confirmation vote in an increasingly volatile political climate ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections.
Approval of Kavanaugh would cement conservative control of the Supreme Court and advance a White House effort to tilt the American judiciary farther right.
Trump and the White House had been careful not to malign Ford after her allegations surfaced, but Trump dropped the restraint in his tweets on Friday.
“I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents,” Trump said. “I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!
“Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay,” Trump wrote.
Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican and potentially a key vote on Kavanaugh‘s nomination, said at an event in Portland, Maine, that she was “appalled” by Trump‘s tweet.
“We know allegations of sexual assault are one of the most unreported crimes that exist,” Collins said, according to the Portland Press Herald. “So I thought that the president’s tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong.”
If the hearing proceeds, Republicans will be forced to walk a careful line in questioning Ford’s account without alienating women voters ahead of the elections. Before the 2016 presidential election, more than a dozen women accused Trump of making unwanted advances.
“VILE ATTACK”
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand denounced Trump‘s comments on Friday as a “vile attack.”
“The most powerful man in the world just used his position and platform to attack a sexual assault survivor,” she said on Twitter. “This is the same man who has been credibly accused of more than a dozen cases of sexual assault or harassment.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee released a letter it sent to Ford’s attorneys earlier on Friday in which it accepted some of their demands, including that Kavanaugh not be in the room when she testifies.
The panel rejected some of the other demands, including that Kavanaugh testify first, that the committee call additional witnesses that Ford requests, and that only senators be allowed to ask questions.
“We reserve the option to have female staff attorneys, who are sensitive to the particulars of Dr. Ford’s allegations and are experienced investigators, question both witnesses,” the letter said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking at a gathering of evangelical voters in Washington, assured them Kavanaugh would be confirmed.
“You watched the fight, you watched the tactics, but here is what I want to tell you – in the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court,” McConnell told the Value Voters Summit, drawing a standing ovation.”
McConnell‘s goal has been to confirm Kavanaugh by Oct. 1, the start of the Supreme Court term.
Trump‘s Friday tweets contrasted with comments earlier in the week when he said Ford should be heard, even if it meant a delay in the confirmation process.
A person familiar with the call between Ford’s lawyers and judiciary panel staff on Thursday said Ford could testify by next Thursday.
Ford’s legal team has said she strongly prefers that her allegations are fully investigated before she testifies.
The Senate panel must approve Kavanaugh‘s confirmation before a vote by the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority. Kavanaugh‘s confirmation to the lifetime position would be the second of the Trump administration and solidify conservative control of the nation’s top court.
Ford’s team has sought guarantees of her safety because of death threats. Kavanaugh and his wife also had received threats, a senior White House official said.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Susan Heavey; writing by John Whitesides; Editing by G Crosse and Leslie Adler)
Trump got House Republicans to not use reconciliation to cut Social Security. The problem is…
President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson have agreed to a deal that would fund the…
Donald Trump demanded that the debt limit be raised as part of the government funding…
Donald Trump and JD Vance are blaming President Biden for the havoc caused by Elon…
The first little bit of pressure involving passing a bill to keep the government open…
X boss Elon Musk is throwing a tantrum on his social media platform as House…
This website uses cookies.
