Kavanaugh Accuser Makes More Demands for Hearing
A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford is now making more demands and objecting again to plans that have been made for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.
Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct from an incident at a party in the 1980s when they were in high school. Kavanaugh has denied her claims. Last week, Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley invited Ford to appear at a hearing to tell her side of the story, while Kavanaugh can then tell his. After days of delays, Ford’s attorneys agreed Saturday that Ford would appear.
However, a Monday letter from Michael Bromwich, one of Ford’s attorneys, objected to plans for the hearing as well as Monday’s floor comments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who lashed out at the “smear campaign” against Kavanaugh.
Bromwich objected to the fact that, as stated in a letter from committee staffer Mike Davis, an outside attorney might question Ford, Fox News reported.
“This hearing plan that Mr. Davis described does not appear designed to provide Dr. Blasey Ford with fair and respectful treatment,” Bromwich wrote. “In our view, the hiring of an unnamed ‘experienced sex crimes prosecutor,’ as Mr. Davis described in his email, is contrary to the Majority’s repeated emphasis on the need for the Senate and this Committee’s members to fulfill their constitutional obligations.”
Bromwich said there is no need for such as step, which Ford has opposed.
“It is also inconsistent with your stated wish to avoid a ‘circus,’ as well as Dr. Blasey Ford’s requests through counsel that senators conduct the questioning,” he wrote
“This is not a criminal trial for which the involvement of an experienced sex crimes prosecutor would be appropriate,” the letter said. “Neither Dr. Blasey Ford nor Judge Kavanaugh is on trial. The goal should be to develop the relevant facts, not try a case.”
Bromwich said using outside counsel defies precedents.
“The central point is that there is no precedent for this Committee to bring in outside counsel for the sole purpose of shielding the members of the Committee from performing their responsibility to question witnesses,” Bromwich said, according to CNN.
Browmich demanded that counsel’s resume “immediately” and asked to meet with them Tuesday.
Bromwich added that McConnell’s remarks were unfair to Ford.
“We are finding it difficult to reconcile your letter and Mr. Davis’s note with the Majority Leader’s speech this afternoon on the Senate floor. As Dr. Blasey Ford has been clear since her experience was first made public, she came forward because she believes it is her civic duty to tell the truth about the sexual assault she experienced,” he wrote.
“You said in your letter that you intend to provide a ‘fair and credible’ process … Yet earlier today, the Majority Leader dismissed Dr. Ford’s experience as a ‘smear campaign,’ claiming mistakenly that the witnesses’ statements to the Committee constitute ‘a complete lack of evidence,’ implying that there has been a thorough investigation,” the letter read.
A vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination could come this week, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said Monday.
“I would defer to the chairman but I don’t think we would do it on Thursday,” said the Texas Republican. “Friday would be possible, but I’m gonna let him make those announcements.”
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