Christine Blasey Ford’s legal team announced Sunday that she is “committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursady” before the Senate Judiciary Committee, despite several obstacles.
The latest devopment, which a Judiciary Committee spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press, means that, after several days of haggling with Senate Republicans, Blasey Ford will appear publicly to testify about her sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“She has agreed to move forward with a hearing even though the Committee has refused to subpoena Mark Judge,” Blasey Ford’s lawyers said, identifying the man Blasey Ford said was in the room when Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, but who has denied the allegations.
“They have also refused to invite other witnesses who are essential for a fair hearing that arrives at the truth about the sexual assault,” the lawyers, Debra Katz, Liza Banks and Michael Bromwich, wrote.
Bromwich, a recent addition to the legal team, also represents former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
Blasey Ford’s team said in the statement that “among the issues” to be determined is “who on the Majority side will be asking the questions, whether senators or staff attorneys.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that “we’ll hire our own counsel” to question Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh. He separately referred to committee Republicans bringing in “somebody come in that knows what the hell they’re doing” and “a professional litigator” to do the questioning.
Read the full statement below:
Latest update from Christine Blasey Ford’s legal team – “We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday Sept 27 at 10:00 am… A number of important procedural and logistical issues remain unresolved, although they will not impede the hearing taking place.” pic.twitter.com/Od76mL8sen
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) September 23, 2018
“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that ‘we’ll hire our own counsel’ to question Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh.”
I hear Rudy’s available.
Very courageous woman. And I’ll bet her prep is going well unlike…ahem…someone else’s.
This has got to be a nightmare for Republicans. They were browbeating her, doing their level best to keep her from testifying by stacking the deck. Well, the deck is still stacked, but here she comes anyway. It’ll be interesting to see if Kavanaugh is forced to withdraw before Thursday.
Assuming the nomination survives that long. Watch for the Wednesday news dump.
My admiration for Dr. Blasey Ford just keeps growing. She has the harder job in testifying, because she is limited to the truth, but that generally makes it easier to avoid getting caught in a contradiction. On the other hand, we can bet that the Republicans are planning a withering barrage of “when did you stop beating your wife” type questions. It will be very disorienting.
Republicans bringing in “somebody … that knows what the hell they’re doing”
Democrats?