Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said Sunday that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and her staff will be investigated to see if they leaked the letter detailing the alleged sexual assault that professor Christine Blasey Ford asked her to keep confidential, according to a Sunday Politico report.
He reportedly added that Blasey Ford’s lawyers will also face a D.C. bar inquiry based on Blasey Ford’s testimony that she was unaware that Senate Judiciary Committee staffers had offered to come to California to interview her there.
He said on CBS Sunday that Democrats had “betrayed” and “victimized” Blasey Ford during their “search-and-destroy” mission for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, adding that the breach in confidentiality would decrease the likelihood that women will come forward with sexual assault allegations in the future.
Feinstein said during the hearing that neither she nor anyone on her staff leaked the letter, and that that the letter itself was never leaked. She said that only its contents were, leading her to believe that one of Blasey Ford’s confidants told someone else who told the media.
A reporter from the Intercept who first wrote about the leaked information confirmed last week that he did not get his information from Feinstein or her staffers.
Editor’s note: The headline has been changed to more precisely reflect Cotton’s comments.
