SHOWDOWN: Kavanaugh and accuser to meet at Senate panel

SHOWDOWN: Kavanaugh and accuser to meet at Senate panel

September 17, 2018

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Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said Monday he was willing to speak to a Senate panel to “refute” an allegation he sexually assaulted a woman while in high school, after his accuser said via her attorney that she was ready to testify in public later this week.
Kavanaugh released a new statement calling the allegation “completely false” and saying he “had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself” on Sunday to The Washington Post.
Several women, and a key witness in the allegation, have come forward to defend Kavanaugh, explaining that he has “always treated women with respect and decency.”
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“I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity,” Kavanaugh said.
He had been on a smooth confirmation track, but the new allegations have roiled that process. Republican senators have expressed concern over a woman’s private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.
Debra S. Katz, the attorney for the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, said her client considered the incident to be an attempted rape.
“She believes that if were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped,” Katz told NBC’s “Today.”

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Kavanaugh, 53, “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations when they came out anonymously last week.
“This has not changed,” said White House spokesman Kerri Kupec on Monday. “Judge Kavanaugh and the White House both stand by that statement.”
Still, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said of Ford: “She should not be insulted. She should not be ignored. She should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill.”
Conway, who said she had discussed the situation with President Donald Trump, said that both Ford and Kavanaugh should testify, but made clear it was up to the Judiciary Committee. She said Sen. Lindsey Graham had told her it could happen as soon as Tuesday and the White House will “respect the process.”
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In morning television interviews, Katz said her client was willing to tell her story in public to the Judiciary panel, although no lawmakers or their aides had yet contacted her.
Initially the sexual misconduct allegation was conveyed in a private letter, without revealing Ford’s name.
Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.
She said Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” she says — corralled her in a bedroom when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it. Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when the friend, Mark Judge, jumped on them.
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The allegation against Kavanaugh first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that had been for some time in the possession of Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and one of its four female members.
The White House has accused Feinstein of mounting an “11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation.” The White House has also sought to cast doubt about Ford’s allegation by noting that the FBI has repeatedly investigated Kavanaugh since the 1990s for highly sensitive positions he has held, including in the office of independent counsel Ken Starr, at the White House and his current post on the federal appeals court in Washington.
Sixty-five women who knew Kavanaugh in high school defended him in a separate letter, circulated by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, as someone who “always treated women with decency and respect.”
The friend of Kavanaugh’s that Ford is accusing of being a key witness claims the incident never even happened. Judge told The Weekly Standard, “It’s just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way.”
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Senator Chuck Grassley could invite Ford to testify, likely in closed session before Thursday. Kavanaugh would also probably be asked to appear before senators. The panel would also likely seek testimony from Judge.
Republicans say the allegations have already cast a shadow over Kavanaugh but that it does not appear to be enough to change the votes in the narrowly divided 51-49 Senate.
In considering their options Sunday, Republicans largely settled on the view that Ford’s story alone was not enough to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.