Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychology professor who recently leveled an allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, has agreed to testify before members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, according to reports.
Attorneys for Ford and aides to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley are said to have reached a tentative agreement for the professor to testify Thursday during a “brief” phone call on Saturday and plan to speak again Sunday to flesh out additional details of her testimony.
Members of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) staff were also a part of Saturday’s negotiations.
“Negotiations could still falter over those details, which include who will question the woman, Christine Blasey Ford. But in tentatively agreeing to a Thursday hearing, Republicans made a significant concession that suggested they were working to ensure that the session occurred after several days of uncertainty,” the New York Times reports.
Ford’s attorneys on Saturday sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee stating their client would appear before lawmakers, but did not agree on the proposed Wednesday hearing date, instead requesting further negotiations take place later in the day.
“Dr. Ford accepts the committee’s request to provide her firsthand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct next week,” the letter read. In a jab at Grassley’s handling of the negotiations, Ford’s attorneys claimed the Republican’s counter-proposal was “fundamentally inconsistent with the committee’s promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations.”
Late Friday evening, Grassley announced he would grant Ford’s lawyers additional time to reply the Iowa senator’s proposal to testify Wednesday.
“Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her,” he tweeted. “I hope u understand. It’s not my normal approach to b indecisive,” Grassley said in a tweet:
Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It’s not my normal approach to b indecisive
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 22, 2018
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